Association between calcium and vitamin D supplementation and increased risk of kidney stone formation in patients with osteoporosis in Southwest China: a cross-sectional study.

OBJECTIVES

This cross-sectional study aims to evaluate the association between calcium and vitamin D supplementation for osteoporosis treatment and the development of kidney stones while investigating the impact of urinary calcium excretion on kidney stone risk among patients receiving this supplementation treatment.

DESIGN

The study involved collecting data from 204 Chinese Han patients aged 50-89 with osteoporosis in the southwest region of China. These patients had been on daily doses of 600 mg of calcium carbonate and 0.5 µg alfacalcidol for at least 1 year. The study employed univariate analysis and multivariable logistic regression to identify risk factors for kidney stones, with independent t-tests used to compare differences between groups.

SETTING

Data were collected from patients in the southwest region of China, covering the period from July 2019 to December 2023.

PARTICIPANTS

The study included 204 patients with osteoporosis, all of whom had been receiving the specified calcium and vitamin D supplements for the duration of the study.

RESULTS

The study found that a history of recurrent kidney stones was an independent risk factor for the development of kidney stones. Patients with kidney stones who had a history of recurrent stones exhibited significantly higher levels of 24-hour urinary calcium excretion (1.00±0.62 vs 0.57±0.54, p=0.026) compared with those without such a history.

CONCLUSIONS

The results suggest that a history of recurrent kidney stones independently increases the risk of kidney stones in patients undergoing calcium and vitamin D supplementation for osteoporosis, likely due to increased urinary calcium excretion.