Patients' attitudes on how to deal with the risk of future stone recurrences

One hundred consecutive patients referred for active stone removal responded to a number of questions regarding their attitude to metabolic risk evaluation and recurrence prevention. Of the 74 men and 26 women all but one were interested in the cause of their disease. While 95% of the patients were motivated to change their dietary habits, only 71% were interested in pharmacological treatment. Collection of 24-h urine for risk evaluation in one or five fractions was acceptable to 94 and 84% of the patients, respectively. Only 79% wanted to collect urine during more than one 24-h period. Given the option of a recurrence prevention programme or active stone removal when or if a stone appeared, approximately half of our patients (52%) chose the first, and about one-third (29%) of them chose the second alternative, whereas as many as 19% of the patients did not express any opinion. A programme for regular follow-up in order to detect new stones early was appreciated by only 81 patients. These results show that biochemical risk evaluation and recurrence prevention is generally met with a positive attitude by most patients and that medical recurrence prevention appears to be appreciated by more than half of the patients.