Association between physical activity and kidney stones based on dose-response analyses using restricted cubic...

Area of Science:

• Nephrology
• Public Health
• Epidemiology

Background:

• Kidney stones affect a significant portion of the adult population.
• Understanding modifiable risk factors like physical activity is crucial for prevention.
• Previous research suggests a link between physical activity and kidney stone risk, but dose-response details are less clear.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the dose-response relationship between physical activity levels and the self-reported prevalence of kidney stones.
• To determine if higher physical activity is associated with a lower risk of developing kidney stones.
• To identify a potential threshold for physical activity beyond which the protective effect plateaus.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of data from 8931 adults (≥20 years) from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2013-16.
• Quantification of physical activity using metabolic equivalents (MET) derived from standard questionnaires.
• Application of restricted cubic splines (RCS) and logistic regression to assess the non-linear dose-response association between physical activity and kidney stone prevalence.

Main Results:

• Kidney stones were reported by 10.3% of participants (11.5% males, 9.2% females).
• Increased physical activity (higher MET quartiles) was significantly associated with lower odds of kidney stones (e.g., Q4 OR=0.63).
• A non-linear inverse relationship was observed (P for non-linearity=0.0100), with prevalence plateauing around 2480 MET-min/week.

Conclusions:

• Physical activity demonstrates a significant inverse association with kidney stone prevalence.
• The dose-response relationship is non-linear, exhibiting a plateau effect.
• Reaching a specific level of physical activity may be sufficient to achieve maximum risk reduction for kidney stones.