Kidney Stones May Increase Women's Risk of Coronary Heart Disease

Kidney stones may increase a woman's risk of coronary heart disease (CHD), a new report found.

The paper, published in a recent edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association, included multiple studies involving more than 240,000 Americans, nearly 200,000 of which were women.

Of the total number, just less than 20,000 reported a history of kidney stones and, after up to 24 years of follow-up in men and 18 years in women, almost 17,000 incidences of CHD had occurred.

After further examining the results, the researchers found that while there was no significant link between the two in men, women were roughly 30 percent more likely to develop CHD after experiencing a kidney stone.

"Our finding of no significant association between history of kidney stones and risk of CHD in men but an increased risk in women is difficult to explain, even though we could not determine whether this was due to sex or some other difference between the male and female cohorts," the authors wrote.

Because of this, the researchers argue that "further research is needed to determine whether the association is sex-specific and to establish the pathophysiological basis of this association."

Kidney stones are a pervasive medical ailment in the United States. According to recent data from the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 10.6 percent of men and 7.1 percent of women report having had one.

Furthermore, their frequency is increasing, with overall prevalence rising from 3.8 percent in the late 1970s to 8.8 percent between 2007 and 2010.

Fortunately, a study recently presented at an American Urological Association Conference found that regular exercise could reduce postmenopausal women's risk of developing kidney stones by as much as 31 percent. The same report found reducing consumption of high-calorie foods could reduce risk by 40 percent.