Obesity Is Positively Associated and Alcohol Intake Is Negatively Associated with Nephrolithiasis

The current research investigated the impacts of smoking, alcohol consumption, and obesity on the development of nephrolithiasis. We included ≥40-year-old Koreans from the Korean National Health Insurance Service-Health Screening Cohort. A total of 28,395 nephrolithiasis patients were compared with 113,580 control participants. Previous histories of smoking, alcohol consumption, and obesity were examined before the presence of nephrolithiasis. Conditional logistic regression analysis was performed to estimate the odds ratios (ORs) of smoking, alcohol consumption, and obesity for nephrolithiasis. Further analyses were conducted, according to age, sex, smoking, alcohol consumption, and obesity. The current smoking status was not linked with the presence of nephrolithiasis. Alcohol consumption was linked with a lower likelihood of the presence of nephrolithiasis (adjusted OR (aOR) = 0.89, 95% confidence intervals (CI) = 0.86−0.92, p < 0.001). Being obese was associated with a greater likelihood of the presence of nephrolithiasis ((95% CI) = 1.27 (1.22−1.31) < 1.42 (1.37−1.46) < 1.59 (1.47−1.71) for overweight < obese I < obese II). The relation of alcohol consumption and obesity with nephrolithiasis was consistent in the subgroups. The presence of nephrolithiasis was positively linked with obesity and negatively linked with alcohol consumption.