Researchers have long noted a correlation between kidney stone rates and temperature, notes Sweet. “When women who have these other conditions have a kidney stone, they are also more likely to have complex stones that are more difficult to treat and have accompanying urinary tract infections and pain that reduces quality of life.” Climate change as a risk factorīesides metabolic conditions increasing kidney stone risk, there’s another component that may increase the risk over time for the whole population: climate change. “Women’s risk of getting stones is greater than for men if they are obese,” says Sweet. Women also had a higher frequency of infected stones as a result of recurrent urinary tract infections (UTIs).
Plus, a recent epidemiological study spanning decades demonstrates that people who develop symptoms from kidney stones tend to be female, with the highest increase in incident rates between women ages 18 to 39.
Robert Sweet, medical director of the Kidney Stone Center at UW Medical Center – Northwest. While women’s overall lifetime risk is lower than men’s, obesity, diabetes and associated metabolic syndromes have narrowed the gap, according to D r. While some of this is likely due to improved sensitivity of imaging - even tiny, symptom-free stones can be seen with today’s advanced technology - much of the increase can likely be attributed to common health-related challenges: our ongoing obesity epidemic and the health challenges posed by our diets and sedentary lifestyles. Around 11% of men and 6% of women are diagnosed with kidney stones in their lifetime, and this gender gap is closing as women are diagnosed at increasing rates. Perhaps the most common misconception is that kidney stones only happen to men, but this is simply not true. They can vary in color, density, location and shape, and range in size from as small as a grain of sand to, in rare cases, as large as a “spikey” golf ball. Kidney stones are hard formations that develop in your kidneys when there is a high concentration of substances like calcium, oxalate, uric acid and phosphorus in your urine. While you’ve likely heard of kidney stones (and the pain they can cause), there’s a lot of misconceptions about these pebble-like deposits.