Epidemiology of renal calculi in a reference hospital in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais state

Abstract

Introduction: Renal lithiasis is a very common disorder in the clinical practice, and multiple factors are related to its ethiopathogenicity. However, we did not find any study aboutthe epidemiology of lithiasis in Brazil.

Objective: To acess the influence of age, sex, skin color and laterality of stones as risk factors for renal calculi.

Methods: 400 charts of patients with diagnosis of nephrolithiasis were studied in the Nephrology and Urology Unit of the Hospital das Clínicas of Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, in Belo Horizonte. All diagnoses were confirmed by clinical history associated to imaging studies.

Results: The presence of this disease was higher in women (54,5%) than men. The proportion of white patients (75%) with nephrolithiasis was significantly higher than colored (23,3%), and black patients (1,8%). The mean age was 39,81±15,61 years. The side of calculi was not different in both sexes, but men presented more bilateral stones than women.

Conclusion: In the population studied in the present paper, nephrolithiasis was more frequent in white young adults, mainly in women, without prevalence of side. These results suggest possible relation between kidney stones and skin color.