Kidney stones associated with modest increased risk of coronary heart disease in women, but not men
2013-07-24
(Press-News.org) An analysis of data from three studies that involved a total of more than 240,000 participants found that a self-reported history of kidney stones was associated with a statistically significant increased risk of coronary heart disease among women but no significant association was evident for men, according to a study in the July 24/31 issue of JAMA.
"Nephrolithiasis [kidney stones] is a common condition, with the prevalence varying by age and sex. A recent estimate from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, a representative sample of the U.S. population, reported the prevalence of a history of kidney stones of 10.6 percent in men and 7.1 percent in women. The overall prevalence has increased from 3.8 percent (1976-1980) to 8.8 percent (2007-2010)," according to background information in the article. Kidney stone disease may be associated with an increased risk of coronary heart disease (CHD). "Previous studies of the association between kidney stones and CHD have often not controlled for important risk factors, and the results have been inconsistent."
Pietro Manuel Ferraro, M.D., of Columbus-Gemelli Hospital, Rome, and colleagues analyzed the relation between kidney stones and risk of incident CHD for individuals with a history of kidney stones. The analysis included 45,748 men and 196,357 women in the United States without a history of CHD at baseline who were participants in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study (HPFS) (45,748 men 40-75 years of age; follow-up from 1986 to 2010), Nurses' Health Study I (NHS I) (90,235 women 30-55 years of age; follow-up from 1992 to 2010), and Nurses' Health Study II (NHS II) (106,122 women 25-42 years of age; follow-up from 1991 to 2009). The diagnoses of kidney stones and CHD were updated biennially during follow-up. Coronary heart disease was defined as fatal or nonfatal myocardial infarction (MI; heart attack) or coronary revascularization.
Of a total of 242,105 participants, 19,678 reported a history of kidney stones. After up to 24 years of follow-up in men and 18 years in women, 16,838 incident cases of CHD occurred. "Multivariable-adjusted analysis of individual outcomes confirmed an association in NHS I and NHS II participants between history of kidney stones and myocardial infarction and revascularization. After pooling the NHS I and NHS II cohorts, women with a history of kidney stones had an increased risk of CHD, fatal and nonfatal myocardial infarction, and revascularization," the authors write.
After multivariable adjustment, there was no significant association between history of kidney stones and CHD in the men's cohort.
"Our finding of no significant association between history of kidney stones and risk of CHD in men but an increased risk in women is difficult to explain, even though we could not determine whether this was due to sex or some other difference between the male and female cohorts. However, differences by sex are not infrequent in studies analyzing the association between nephrolithiasis and either CHD or risk factors for CHD," the researchers write.
"Further research is needed to determine whether the association is sex-specific and to establish the pathophysiological basis of this association."
###
(JAMA. 2013;310(4):408-415; Available pre-embargo to the media at http://media.jamanetwork.com)
Editor's Note: Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, financial disclosures, funding and support, etc.
END
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
2013-07-24
"The incidence of type l diabetes (T1D), one of the most prevalent chronic diseases in children, has increased worldwide," write Valma Harjutsalo, Ph.D., of the Diabetes Prevention Unit, Helsinki, Finland, and colleagues, who conducted a study to examine the incidence rates of T1D between 2006 and 2011 in Finnish children younger than 15 years as well as the 32-year trend (1980-2011).
As reported in a Research Letter, all children with newly diagnosed T1D were ascertained using several nationwide registers. Age-standardized and age-specific annual incidence rates for ...
2013-07-24
STANFORD, Calif. — Students who had their genome tested as part of a groundbreaking medical school course on personalized medicine improved their knowledge of the class materials by an average of 31 percent compared with those who didn't undergo the testing, according to a study by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine.
While the sample size was small — 23 students sent their saliva to a commercial genetics testing company; eight did not — the results may encourage educators to consider this approach in the future, the authors said.
"These results ...
2013-07-24
Disability is commonly defined as "difficulty or dependency in carrying out activities essential to independent living". With the number of disabled people expected to increase in coming years, researchers feel there is a need to define preventive strategies and slow this progression.
Previous research has shown that unhealthy behaviours (such as physical inactivity, poor diet, smoking) have an adverse effect on health. For instance, the risk of obesity, diabetes, cancer, poor cognitive function, stroke, sudden cardiac death and mortality increases with the number of ...
2013-07-24
NEW YORK, July 23, 2013 – The rate of inappropriate cancer scans for low-risk prostate cancer patients in Sweden plummeted in the decade following a joint campaign to curtail such tests by Swedish County Councils and the National Prostate Cancer Register (NPCR) of Sweden, a professional association of Swedish urologists. The results, published today online in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, suggest that curtailing unneeded medical tests, an urgent healthcare policy goal in the United States highlighted in the Choosing Wisely Campaign, among other initiatives, ...
2013-07-24
The final biological events in the life of a worm are described today, revealing how death spreads like a wave from cell to cell until the whole organism is dead.
When individual cells die, it triggers a chemical chain reaction that leads to the breakdown of cell components and a build-up of molecular debris. The molecular mechanisms of this are reasonably well understood at a cellular level but we know much less about how death spreads throughout an organism at the end of its life.
In worms, the spread of death can be seen easily under a microscope as a wave of blue ...
2013-07-24
The prolonged heat wave that has bathed the UK in sunshine over the past month has given the country an unexpected taste of summer that has seemed to be missing in recent years.
However, a new study published today, 24 July, in IOP Publishing's Environmental Research Letters, has provided warnings that will chime with those accustomed to more typical British weather.
According to the study, winter flooding in the UK is set to get more severe and more frequent under the influence of climate change as a result of a change in the characteristics of atmospheric rivers ...
2013-07-24
ROCHESTER, Minn. — A new study of attitudes about health care costs reveals that an overwhelming majority of U.S. physicians feel a responsibility to address costs, but prioritize their obligations to patients' best interests over cost concerns. Results of the random survey of 2,500 U.S. physicians are published in this week's Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).
"Physicians feel stuck in a difficult position," says lead author Jon Tilburt, M.D., Mayo Clinic's Biomedical Ethics Program and Center for the Science of Health Care Delivery. "Despite their sense ...
2013-07-24
A simple, low-cost and eco-friendly method of creating nitrogen-doped graphene nanoplatelets (NGnPs), which could be used in dye-sensitized solar cells and fuel cells, is published in Scientific Reports today. The work, carried out at Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) in South Korea, could be a step towards replacing conventional platinum (Pt)-based catalysts for energy conversion.
The search for economically viable alternatives to fossil fuels has attracted attention among energy communities because of increasing energy prices and climate change. ...
2013-07-24
CORVALLIS, Ore. – Athletes seeking a healthy performance weight should eat high fiber, low-fat food balanced with their training regimen in order to maintain muscle while still burning fat, according to a report by an Oregon State University researcher.
The United States now has a record number of overweight athletes, a population many think of as untouched by the obesity crisis. Nationally, more than 45 percent of high school linebackers are obese, and the number of overweight students entering college level-sports is increasing.
In a peer-reviewed literature review ...
2013-07-24
DALLAS – July 23, 2013 – A multidisciplinary team at UT Southwestern Medical Center has found that measuring the oxygenation of tumors can be a valuable tool in guiding radiation therapy, opening the door for personalized therapies that keep tumors in check with oxygen enhancement.
In research examining tissue oxygenation levels and predicting radiation response, UT Southwestern scientists led by Dr. Ralph Mason reported in the June 27 online issue of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine that countering hypoxic and aggressive tumors with an "oxygen challenge" – inhaling oxygen ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
[Press-News.org] Kidney stones associated with modest increased risk of coronary heart disease in women, but not men
