Association of Height and Prevalence of Kidney Stones

Introduction and objectives Nephrolithiasis is universally understood to be a multifactorial disease resulting from genetic and environmental factors including gender, diet, calcium, and uric acid excretion. Notably, several of these factors may be related to body habitus. Because men are more likely to develop kidney stones and on average have a larger body size, height may be an important risk factor for stone formation. Several studies have demonstrated that short adult stature is associated with numerous conditions such as hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, and cardiovascular diseases. However, other studies have demonstrated otherwise. Additionally, stones have been shown to be correlated with a high body mass index (BMI). This is likely due to dietary factors. Although height is a component of BMI, there is minimal literature regarding the relationship of height to stone prevalence adjusting for weight.  Methods We aimed to examine whether short adult height is associated with the development of kidney stones using a population-based cohort of the National Center for Health Statistics. Data was gathered from National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES) "Kidney Conditions - Urology" and "Weight History" questionnaire datasets from March 2017 to March 2020 along with demographic data. Logistic regression analysis was used to determine an association between current self-reported height (inches) and if the participant has ever had kidney stones, controlling for weight, gender, age, race, educational level, and marital status.  Results We found that those who were shorter had higher odds of reporting a history of stones (OR: 1.017; 95%CI: 1.005-1.028). This association was found after controlling for covariates such as age, gender, race, education, and weight. In addition, the male gender and Hispanic race had higher odds of reporting a history of stones (OR: 1.43 and 1.073, respectively).  Conclusion Our results suggest that short height is related to the prevalence of kidney stones independent of weight, age, gender, and race. This supports previous literature indicating height to be a component of renal disease.