Stone disease is a urologic condition whose etiology has not been completely characterized.
Researchers in San Francisco and Boston have hypothesized a connection between stone disease and cardiovascular disease (CVD) in a large-cohort prospective analysis of 4,747 patients with a history of nephrolithiasis.
CVD was defined as myocardial infarction, angina, need for coronary artery bypass graft and ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke.
Risk of CVD in men with a history of nephrolithiasis was 1.15; the risk was highest for angina among individual outcomes analyzed. No increased stroke risk was observed. While the statistical risk for CVD in stone disease patients was modest, results correlate with other studies investigating a link between CVD and nephrolithiasis and may contribute to the etiology of stone formation and the counseling of patients.