Metabolic evaluation of the kidney stone patient - the key for personalized metaphylaxis

Abstract

Kidney stones represent one of the “oldest” diseases and have affected normal people but also great historical characters starting from Ramses II to George W. Bush or Lionel Messi. Despite progress in understanding the pathophysiology of kidney stones, we are witnessing an increase in the incidence and prevalence worldwide. The spread of urinary stones disease is not homogeneous on the planet, its epidemiology is influenced, among other things, by external factors such as geo-climatic conditions. In the United States, the prevalence between 1976-1980 was 3.8%, it increased to 5.7% between 1988-1994, while in late 2010 already reached 8.8% (1). Meanwhile in Europe, given that there are climatic differences, but also in terms of eating habits between different areas, it is expected that the prevalence of urinary stones will differ between countries or regions. In a relatively hot region like Andalusia, according to Arias Vega et al., in people aged 40 to 65 years old, the prevalence of lithiasis in 2016 was 16.4%, while in Europe’s northern regions like Iceland the incidence between 2005-2008 was 138/100.000 according to Edvardsson et al. (2, 3).