Blood Pressure-Kidney
Stone Risk Linked To Weight
Overweight women who have kidney stones
have an increased risk of developing high blood pressure (hypertension),
according to a new report in the American Journal of Kidney Diseases.
A similar, but much weaker association, was seen among men.
Previous reports have tied kidney stones to elevated blood pressure,
but the impact of gender and weight on this association was unclear.
To investigate, Dr. Daniel L. Gillen, from the University of
California at Irvine, and colleagues analyzed data from 919 kidney
stone-formers and 19,120 subjects without a history of kidney
stones who were included in the Third National Health and Nutrition
Examination Survey. The subjects' body mass index (BMI), a ratio
of height to weight, was also determined.
Women who had a history of kidney stones were 69 percent more
likely to report that they also had high blood pressure, the researchers
report. By contrast, in men, kidney stone formation was not significantly
associated with blood pressure.
As the subject's BMI rose, the difference in blood pressure between
kidney stone-formers and non-stone-formers increased, particularly
in women. Among women with the highest BMIs, kidney stone-formers
had an average increase of 7.62 mm Hg in the top blood pressure
reading and 4.36 mm Hg in the bottom reading.
These results suggest that overweight women who have kidney stones
may have a significantly higher risk of developing high blood
pressure and the illness and death associated with this condition,
the researchers conclude. "More focus on the early treatment and
monitoring of stone formers is recommended."
SOURCE: American Journal of Kidney Diseases, August 2005.
Reference
Source 89
August
30, 2005
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