The role of sodium intake in nephrolithiasis: epidemiology, pathogenesis, and future directions

• Published in: European journal of internal medicine Vol. 35; pp. 16 - 19
• Main Authors: Afsar, Baris, Kiremit, Murat C, Sag, Alan A, Tarim, Kayhan, Acar, Omer, Esen, Tarik, Solak, Yalcin, Covic, Adrian, Kanbay, Mehmet
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Netherlands Elsevier B.V 01-11-2016
• Subjects: Diet; Diet therapy; Health Care Costs; Humans; Incidence; Internal Medicine; Kidney Calculi - epidemiology; Kidney Calculi - etiology; Nephrolithiasis; Primary Prevention; Sodium - urine; Sodium, dietary; Sodium, Dietary - adverse effects; Sodium, dietary; Diet therapy; Nephrolithiasis; Diet; Primary prevention
• ISSN: 0953-6205; 1879-0828
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ejim.2016.07.001

Abstract The prevalence of nephrolithiasis has doubled over the last decade and the incidence in females now approaches that of males. Since dietary salt is lithogenic, a purported mechanism common to both genders is excess dietary sodium intake vis-a-vis processed and fast foods. Nephrolithiasis has far-reaching societal implications such as impact on gross domestic product due to days lost from work (stone disease commonly affects working adults), population-wide carcinogenic diagnostic and interventional radiation exposure (kidney stone disease is typically imaged with computed tomographic imaging and treated under imaging guidance and follow-up), and rising healthcare costs (surgical treatment will be indicated for a number of these patients). Therefore, primary prevention of kidney stone disease via dietary intervention is a low-cost public health initiative with massive societal implications. This primer aims to establish baseline epidemiologic and pathophysiologic principles to guide clinicians in sodium-directed primary prevention of kidney stone disease.