Epidemiological studies on the prevalence of upper urinary calculi in Taiwan.
BACKGROUND
A nationwide survey was conducted to investigate the prevalence of upper urinary calculi in Taiwan.


METHODS
A postal questionnaire was mailed to 27,758 people, 0.2% of the adults in Taiwan.


RESULTS
Of the 4,588 valid respondents, 440 had at least one episode of upper urinary calculus disease. The overall prevalence was 9.6% (14.5% in males and 4.3% in females). Men were more prone to nephrolithiasis than women (age-adjusted prevalence of 12.2% in men and 3.1% in women, p = 0). The 'stone belt' was localized in the Midwest region of Taiwan. A gender- and age-adjusted multivariate analysis revealed that alcohol consumption and family history of kidney stone were significant risk factors for stone occurrence. Compared with general population, the odds ratios for stone disease in inhabitants whose father, mother and both parents with stone history were 3.44 [95% confidence interval (CI), 2.33-5.07], 4.79 (95% CI, 2.85-8.07) and 10.40 (95% CI, 3.75-28.84), respectively. The subtropical temperature and gradually higher socioeconomic standards of living may contribute to the high prevalence. Inhabitants in the Midwest region have higher risk to develop stones.


CONCLUSIONS
Further studies are needed to investigate the exact cause of these regional variations of stone prevalence. Nevertheless, the present study provides an additional piece of information on worldwide epidemiology of urolithiasis.
Lee
Ying-Huei
YH
Division of Urology, Department of Surgery, Veterans General Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan/ROC. yhlee@isca.vghks.gov.tw
Huang
Wann-Chu
WC
Tsai
Jeng-Yu
JY
Lu
Chih-Ming
CM
Chen
Wei-Chuan
WC
Lee
Ming-Huei
MH
Hsu
Huei-Shing
HS
Huang
Jong-Khing
JK
Chang
Luke S
LS
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013624:Taiwan / Q000453:epidemiology; D014545:Urinary Calculi / Q000453:epidemiology*