The relationship between urinary stone components and visceral adipose tissue using computed tomography--based fat...

Area of Science:

• Urology
• Nephrology
• Metabolic Health

Background:

• Obesity is a growing concern linked to various health issues, including urinary stone disease.
• Body Mass Index (BMI) is a common measure of obesity, but it may not accurately reflect visceral fat accumulation.
• Visceral Adipose Tissue (VAT) represents abdominal fat and its potential role in stone formation requires further investigation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the association between body mass index (BMI), visceral adipose tissue (VAT), and the composition of urinary stones.
• To compare the predictive value of VAT versus BMI in relation to different types of kidney stones.

Main Methods:

• A cross-sectional study analyzed data from 203 urinary stone patients (2010-2012).
• Collected data included age, gender, BMI, urinary pH, stone components, and VAT (quantified via CT scans).
• Obesity was defined by BMI ≥ 25 kg/m² or VAT ≥ 100 cm²; multinomial logistic regression was used for analysis.

Main Results:

• Obesity prevalence was 49.3% by BMI and 65.5% by VAT criteria.
• VAT-defined obesity was significantly associated with uric acid stones and mixed calcium oxalate phosphate stones.
• VAT-defined obesity was also linked to calcium oxalate stones compared to calcium phosphate and mixed stones.
• BMI-defined obesity showed no significant correlation with any urinary stone component type.

Conclusions:

• Visceral adipose tissue (VAT) plays a more significant role in the formation of uric acid and calcium oxalate stones than total body fat measured by BMI.
• VAT may be a more sensitive indicator for identifying individuals at higher risk of specific urinary stone types.