Study antibiotics increasingly cause kidney stones

Why are there more and more kidney stones??

Kidney stones can become very uncomfortable over time for the person affected and can even cause colic and other discomforts. In recent decades, more and more people have suffered from kidney stones. Researchers now found out that the use of oral antibiotics could be at fault with this problem.

The researchers at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia found in their current research that the prevalence of kidney stones in the United States has risen by a staggering 70 percent since the 1970s. There is also a strong increase in Germany. Doctors suspect that the use of oral antibiotics could be part of this problem. The experts published the results of their study in the English-language journal "American Society of Nephrology".

In recent years, there are more and more cases of kidney stones. Doctors suspect that oral antibiotics could be involved. (Image: psdesign1 / fotolia.com)

What are kidney stones?

Kidney stones form in the human body from the substances dissolved in the urine. The kidneys are supposed to cleanse our body of pollutants. That is why they filter out harmful and poisonous substances from our blood and then release them through the urine. However, it can happen that crystals form from some of the substances, which then deposit as so-called stones in the urinary tract. Depending on where these stones are deposited, they are called kidney stones, ureteral stones or bladder stones. The size of these structures can vary widely, ranging from just a few millimeters to several centimeters.

13.8 million medical records were analyzed

For the current study, the medical records of 13.8 million patients were analyzed. In the study, a total of 25,981 kidney stones were diagnosed in the participants. The physicians also investigated the use of antibiotics in the affected individuals over the last three to twelve months prior to diagnosis of the kidney stones. In Germany alone, today, three times as many people have kidney stones compared to the diagnosis of kidney stones ten years ago. It is estimated that about five in a hundred people suffer from kidney stones.

Which medicines were used?

After controlling for various factors such as urinary tract infections, medications, diseases such as gout and diabetes and other variables, the researchers found that exposure to one of five classes of antibiotics significantly increases the risk of kidney stones. The drugs used by patients ranged from broad-spectrum penicillins, which increased the risk by 27 percent, to so-called sulfa drugs, which were associated with more than twice the risk, say the experts. Agents such as cephalosporins, fluoroquinolones and nitrofurantoin were also associated with increased risk. The risks for children under the age of 18 were also significantly higher than for adults.

Why do oral antibiotics increase the risk of kidney stones??

The underlying mechanism is still unclear, but the most likely explanation is a complex interaction of the drugs with the microbiome in the urine or intestine, study author Dr. Gregory E. from the Tasian Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

Further research is needed

There is a so-called risk-benefit relationship, so it must be ensured that only antibiotics are prescribed, which do not lead to an increase in negative health effects, the expert adds. Further research is now needed to better understand the problem. (As)