Urolithiasis in vegetarian population attending a tertiary care centre: a retrospective study

Abstract

Background: Urolithiasis is the one of the most common urological disease with kidney stone, being the most painful and prevalent urological disorders of the urinary system. Its prevalence has drastically increased during the present century with 3–20% of the overall population of the world having the tendency to form one urinary stone during the life time of 70 years. Diet is an integral part of renal accumulation and thus filtration, which in turn affects the absorption and bodily homeostasis of renal stone occurrence. The epidemiology differs in accordance with different geographical regions and social constructs. Within this context, food habits have been proposed as one of the major risk factors in renal stone formation, as a form of epidemiology for urine composition. With this background, this study is designed to study the incidence of urolithiasis in the vegetarian population of northeast India. Methods: The study was designed as an observational study by including all the patients diagnosed with having urolithiasis on imaging who was managed according to different treatment modalities. Patients included in the study were enquired about their diet habits and were recorded. Results: Out of the 151 cases of urolithiasis being studied, prevalence in male were 2.5 times more than female. Age group 31-40 years comprised of most number of patients with calculi (28.5%). Kamrup (metro and rural) had the most number of urolithiasis cases (33.8%). 5 cases of urolithiasis were found to be pure vegetarian (3.3%). 38.4% of the patient had a history of smoking. Conclusions: Most of the patients had unilateral calculi. Majority of the urolithiasis patient hailed from Kamrup (rural and metro) district, followed by Darrang and Nalbari district. Vegetarian group of patient with urolithiasis had significant history of alcohol intake, smoking and tobacco chewing.