The Association and Racial-Ethnic Disparities Between Arthritis and Kidney Stone Disease: A Population Study from 2007 To 2020 US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

BACKGROUND

The specific association between arthritis and kidney stones was still indistinct and lacked comprehensiveness. The study was to explore this association between them, including racial-ethnic disparities.

METHODS

This cross-sectional study included 26,442 participants (unweighted) from 2007 to 2020 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. The main outcome was the risk of kidney stones. Arthritis and its types were the exposure. The outcome and exposures were based on self-report questionnaire. Specific associations were assessed by weighted logistic regression and sensitivity analyses based on complex sample designs. The subgroup and interaction analysis were performed to probe differences in the races/ethnicities (non-Hispanic Whites, non-Hispanic Blacks, Mexican American, Other Hispanics, and other races).

RESULTS

This study recruited 26,442 participants (unweighted), of which 2,526 participants (unweighted) had kidney stone (weighted, 9.9%) while 23,916 participants (unweighted) did not, and 7,284 participants (unweighted) had arthritis (weighted, 25.9%) while 19,158 participants (unweighted) did not. In all models, individuals with arthritis tend to have a higher risk of kidney stone. In fully adjusted models, a positive association was suggested between the risk of kidney stone and arthritis (OR:1.61, 95%CI:1.40-1.86), rheumatoid arthritis (OR:1.93, 95%CI:1.54-2.43), osteoarthritis/degenerative arthritis (OR:1.55, 95%CI:1.29-1.86), and other arthritis (OR:1.56, 95%CI:1.30-1.88). These associations had interactive effects in different races/ethnicities (P for interaction < 0.01). In the races/ethnicities subgroups, though there are positive associations in all groups, only the non-Hispanic Whites had a significant positive association between the risk of kidney stone and rheumatoid arthritis (OR:2.04, 95%CI:1.54-2.70). Other races had the highest positive association between the risk of kidney stone and arthritis (OR:3.32, 95%CI:1.94-5.69), osteoarthritis (OR:3.47, 95%CI:1.98-6.09), and other arthritis (OR:3.77, 95%CI:1.88-7.55), followed by the non-Hispanic Blacks.

CONCLUSIONS

Arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis/degenerative arthritis, and other arthritis were significantly and positively associated with kidney stone risk. These associations existed in interactive effects on different races/ethnicities. Cross-sectional nature prevents causal inference in this study.