Risk factor of urolithiasis in Laos

Abstract

A case control study on urolithiasis was conducted in Laos, where the disease was endemic in order to clarify the relationship between diet patterns and life style related factors and the disease. As subjects of the study, 114 cases and 97 hospital based unmatched comparative subjects participated. By using a questionnaire, the diet patterns and life style related factors were asked and odds ratios were calculated for each of the factors. Factor analysis was performed to ascertain how the factors of food items were assembled by the composing factors, and covariance structure analysis (structure equation model) was adopted to clarify the relationship between those factors and the disease. Then the urolithiasis cases were divided into two groups, determined by the presence of upper and lower urinary tact stones because etiological differences were detected. Lower urinary tract stones revealed a positive relationship with traditional food items and a negative one with modern food items. In contrast, upper urinary tract stones showed a higher path coefficient to modern food items than to traditional ones in the structure equation model. It is suggested that in Laos the modernization of the diet pattern may elevate the incidence of upper urinary tract stones, though it decreases lower urinary tract stones.