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World J Nephrol. Nov 24, 2018; 7(7): 129-142
Published online Nov 24, 2018. doi: 10.5527/wjn.v7.i7.129
Confounding risk factors and preventative measures driving nephrolithiasis global makeup
Samuel Shin, Aneil Srivastava, Nazira A Alli, Bidhan C Bandyopadhyay
Samuel Shin, Aneil Srivastava, Nazira A Alli, Bidhan C Bandyopadhyay, Calcium Signaling Laboratory, Research Service, Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Washington, DC 20422, United States
Aneil Srivastava, Bidhan C Bandyopadhyay, George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052, United States
Author contributions: Shin S, Srivastava A and Alli NA generated the figures and the tables; Alli NA contributed to the initial concept; Shin S and Srivastava A wrote the manuscript; Bandyopadhyay BC wrote the manuscript and designed overall the aim of the manuscript.
Supported by National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, No. DK102043 (to Bidhan C Bandyopadhyay); and National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, No. EB021483 (to Bidhan C Bandyopadhyay).
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no financial or non-financial conflict of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Bidhan C Bandyopadhyay, BSc, MSc, PhD, Director, Calcium Signaling Laboratory, Research Service, Veterans Affairs Medical Center, 50 Irving Street, NW, Washington, DC 20422, United States. bidhan.bandyopadhyay@va.gov
Telephone: +1-202-7458622 Fax: +1-202-4622006
Received: August 1, 2018
Peer-review started: August 1, 2018
First decision: August 8, 2018
Revised: September 10, 2018
Accepted: October 9, 2018
Article in press: October 9, 2018
Published online: November 24, 2018
Abstract

Nephrolithiasis is increasing in developed and developing countries at an alarming rate. With the global spike in kidney stone diseases, it is crucial to determine what risk factors are influencing the current global landscape for kidney stones. Our aims for this review are: to identity and analyze the four categories of risk factors in contributing to the global scale of stone formation: lifestyle, genetics, diet, and environment; and discuss preventative measures for kidney stone formation. We also performed data search through the published scientific literature, i.e., PubMed® and found that there is a significant link between lifestyle and obesity with cases of calcium stones. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and World Health Organization factor indicators for dietary intake and obesity, along with climate data were used to create the projected total risk world map model for nephrolithiasis risk. Complete global analyses of nephrolithiasis deplete of generalizations is nearly insurmountable due to limited sources of medical and demographic information, but we hope this review can provide further elucidation into confounding risk factors and preventative measures for global nephrolithiasis analysis.

Keywords: Nephrolithiasis, Epidemiology, Risk factors, Global factors

Core tip: We analyzed diet, lifestyle, genetics, and environment, four categorical risk factors that play major roles in the contribution of nephrolithiasis. Calcium stones and lifestyle factor obesity had a significant link; dietary factor of high protein and low intake of negative regulators increased the risk; and environmental factor of climate had a relatively high correlation to nephrolithiasis. Together, a model was formed to map a prevalence of nephrolithiasis of the world.