Influence of Sex and Age in the Risk of Urolithiasis—A Biochemical Evaluation in Indian Subjects

Abstract

Urinary lithogenic promoters and inhibitors were estimated in normal Indian men and women of young and old ages to understand the sex difference in the risk of stone disease. Young men displayed increased phosphate excretion and a higher mean calcium (both lithogenic promoters) and lower excretion of citrate (lithogenic inhibitor) compared to women of the same age indicating that young men are more at risk for calculous disease than women. In the older postmenopausal women, there was increased excretion of calcium and magnesium and a lower mean citrate than in the younger women suggesting that oestrogenic activity during reproductive years appears to offer protection against calculogenesis. This study indicates that sex differences exist in the excretion of lithogenic promoters and inhibitors which partly explain the difference in the incidence of urolithiasis between men and women.