Calcium and Vitamin D Supplementation and Health-Related Quality of Life in Women Aged >50 Years with Urolithiasis.

INTRODUCTION

Calcium supplementation (CaS) and vitamin D supplementation (VitDS) are common among older women, but their association with health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in women with kidney stone disease (KSD) remains poorly characterized. We evaluated the association between CaS and/or VitDS and disease-specific HRQOL in women aged >50 years with KSD.

MATERIALS: We performed a secondary analysis of a prospectively collected multicenter WISQOL database from 16 North American institutions (2014-2020). Women aged >50 years with a complete baseline Wisconsin Stone Quality of Life (WISQOL) assessment were included. Patients were classified as receiving neither supplement, CaS alone, VitDS alone, or combined CaS and VitDS. Multivariable general linear models evaluated associations with standardized WISQOL scores while adjusting for demographic, clinical, and contemporaneous stone-related characteristics.

RESULTS

Among 734 women, 381 (51.9%) received neither supplement, 44 (6.0%) CaS alone, 206 (28.1%) VitDS alone, and 103 (14.0%) combined CaS and VitDS. Supplementation status was not significantly associated with total WISQOL score (global p=0.400). Compared with neither supplementation, adjusted differences were +4.06 points for CaS alone (95% CI -2.42 to 10.54), +0.34 for VitDS alone (95% CI -3.47 to 4.15), and +3.29 for combined CaS and VitDS (95% CI -1.53 to 8.11). No significant domain-specific associations were observed after correction for multiple testing.

CONCLUSION

CaS and/or VitDS was not independently associated with disease-specific HRQOL in women aged >50 years with KSD. Supplementation decisions should remain guided by clinical indication, skeletal health, and individual metabolic stone-risk profile rather than an expected association with stone-specific HRQOL.