Nephrology 
 
 Hotter Weather Linked to Kidney Stones | A A Post Test Complete Take Posttest 
 
 Action Points There is a graded increase in the risk of patients seeking medical care for kidney stones as average daily temperatures increase, and the time between hot days and kidney stone presentation is short. 
 
 As temperatures increased above 50°F (10°C) in several large U.S. cities, risk of kidney stones also increased significantly researchers said. 
 
 A study of 60,433 privately insured patients across five cities -- Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia -- found that the maximum risk for kidney stone presentation occurred within 3 days of a high daily temperature and was likely mediated by an effect on patients' hydration. 
 
 The risk was statistically significant in all cities except Los Angeles, according to the paper, published online in Environmental Health Perspectives. 
 
 Cumulative relative risks for a mean daily temperature of 86°F (30°C) versus 50°F were: 
 
 Atlanta (1.38, 95% CI 1.07-1.79) 
 
 Chicago (1.37, 95% CI 1.07-1.76) 
 
 Dallas (1.36, 95% CI 1.10-1.69) 
 
 Los Angeles (1.11, 95% CI 0.73-1.68) 
 
 Philadelphia (1.47, 95% CI 1.00-2.17) 
 
 The five cities represent climates in which 30% of the world's population lives, according to study author Gregory Tasian, MD, MSc, at the University of Pennsylvania, and colleagues. 
 
 Using a time series design and distributed lag nonlinear model, researchers collected private health insurance claims data from 2005-2011 as well as weather data for the selected cities. Tasian and colleagues examined presentation for kidney stones within a 20-day window of temperature exposure. 
 
 Cases tended to occur within a few days after episodes of extreme temperature, with a first peak at about 2 to 3 days and a second at 4 to 6 days. 
 
 "We were expecting to find a short lag time between heat and presentation, so it wasn't really surprising that the lag time was detected within a week," Tasian told MedPage Today. 
 
 Tasian and colleagues hypothesized that dehydration is the causal mechanism between the effect of heat and stone presentation. When patients who are already at risk get dehydrated, calcium and uric acid become more supersaturated, and calcium stones begin to form, they said. 
 
 "It's all linked to fluid. Saying heat leads to fluid loss would be the direct link," said Allan Jhagroo, MD, a professor of nephrology at the University of Wisconsin who was not associated with the study. 
 
 The researchers also hypothesized that the hotter weather may have led to stone formation in patients exposed to hotter weather who would have normally developed stones at a future time. 
 
 Colder weather was associated with a relative risk in Atlanta, Chicago, and Philadelphia, perhaps because patients stay indoors where it can be hotter. It's also conceivable that hydration may suffer during extremes of cold (when indoor humidity, which was not measured in the study, is usually low) as well as hot weather. 
 
 Outdoor humidity was measured, but was not found to be a predictor for kidney stones. 
 
 The researchers also suggested that the number of hot days in a year is probably a better indicator of kidney stone risk than mean annual temperature. Atlanta, for example, had almost twice the rate of kidney stones compared with Los Angeles but had a similar mean temperature. It had, though, on average 53 days a year in which the daily mean temperature was higher than 80°F. Los Angeles had only 10. 
 
 Dallas had 324 days hotter than 86°F during the period, 20 times more than such days in Atlanta, the next closest city. But it had the same risk increase. Tasian and colleagues suggested that the population of Dallas may have adapted to the local climate, spending more time indoors and drinking more fluids. They also noted that their data were sparse for extreme weather, and their statistical methods may have flattened the associations somewhat. 
 
 A previous study reported by MedPage Today found that, as temperatures across the U.S. increase because of climate change, the prevalence of kidney stones may be expected to grow. Tasian said that more research needs to be done to see how the risk of kidney stones may change with temperature increases. 
 
 The authors acknowledged several limitations to the study. They had no data on individuals' actual exposure to outdoor temperatures, which would vary. All the patients had commercial insurance and may spend more time indoors, with air conditioning, than those with public or no insurance. It is also possible that temperature differentially affects subgroups such as older versus younger patients. 
 
 Additionally, the research was concerned only with presentation at the hospital and not stone formation. 
 
 Jhagroo suggested that this left open the question of whether "warmer weather leads to passage, or warmer weather leads to both formation and passage." 
 
 The study was funded by grants from the NIH. The authors disclosed no relevant relationships with industry. 
 
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 Previous studies have shown that hotter climates in general are associated with a greater prevalence of kidney stones. For instance, the Southeastern United States is known to urologists as the "kidney-stone belt" because of higher case rates. Researchers have also observed that when people relocate from moderate climates to hotter places, their likelihood of developing stones increases. 
 
 Tasian and his colleagues wanted to define more precisely the relationship. 
 
 Wading into insurance claims databases, the team analyzed records of more than 60,000 patients who sought help for kidney stones at hospitals and outpatient clinics between 2005 and 2011 in five major U.S. cities - Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia. 
 
 They then factored in average daily temperatures, and calculated risk factors. 
 
 As average daily temperatures rose above 50 degrees - a reference point the researchers chose because it is mild and occurred in each city - the risk of a patient's presenting with a kidney stone over the following 20 days generally increased. 
 
 The average temperatures varied from city to city, as did the amount of risk. In Philadelphia, for example, when the average temperature reached 86 degrees, close to the highest average for the city, the likelihood of a patient's seeking medical help for a kidney stone was 47 percent (1.47 times) higher than at 50 degrees. 
 
 Interestingly, the relative risk increased at colder daily temperatures as well - a finding that the researchers wrote could be attributed to more time spent in heated indoor spaces. 
 
 The researchers also looked at how soon after a summer heat wave people became ill. In general, medical visits peaked within three days. 
 
 The study appears Thursday in Environmental Health Perspectives, the journal of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. 
 
 The findings are significant, Tasian said, because they show an association not just with average annual temperatures, but with acute exposure to heat waves. 
 
 For example, Atlanta and Los Angeles have the same average annual temperature, 63 degrees. But Atlanta has more extremely hot days than the more even climate of Los Angeles. And it turns out that Atlanta has twice the prevalence of kidney stones. 
 
 Margaret Pearle, a professor of urology at UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, said the study was well done. 
 
 "It's really important because we're seeing increases in temperature due to climate change. It means that there's a big increase in costs and a need for health care resources as temperatures rise," she said. 
 
 Pearle, who was not involved with the new research, was lead author of a 2008 study predicting that by 2050, higher temperatures from climate change could cause an additional 1.6 million to 2 million kidney stone cases in the United States - with additional health care costs as high as $1 billion. 
 
 Kidney stones prompt a half-million emergency room visits every year. About 11 percent of the U.S. population has had them. 
 
 That rate is up about 70 percent for adults in the last two or three decades, according to national data - and is increasing even faster among adolescents, who rarely had kidney stones until recent years. 
 
 Higher temperatures are considered one factor because they can cause dehydration. This leads to a higher concentration of calcium and other minerals in urine, which promotes growth of kidney stones. 
 
 "The worrisome aspect that climate change brings into this is that temperatures are projected to increase" up to eight degrees over the next 100 years, Tasian said. "What effect will that have on patients at risk for stone formation?" 
 
 He said much remains unknown, noting, for example, that his study looked only at patients with health insurance, who might have more access to air-conditioning. 
 
 Overall, the health effects of climate change are "an understudied area that will become increasingly important," he said. 
 
 sbauers@phillynews.com 
 
 215-854-5147 @sbauers 
 
 www.inquirer.com/greenspace 

 The number of people suffering from kidney stones has grown over the past thirty years, and a new study shows it's likely to get worse. Here's why. 
 
 Pediatric urologist Gregory Tasian and his team analyzed over 60,000 medical records of people with kidney stones in major cities throughout the U.S. What they found was that people were more likely to develop the painful calcium deposits (pictured above) in their kidneys when average temperatures rose over 50 degrees. In fact, many cases of kidney stones cropped up roughly three days after a hot day. 
 
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 Now that climate change means that some regions of the globe are heating up, it's likely that kidney stones will become even more common. The main cause for the connection between temperature and kidney stones is dehydration. When you get hot and dehydrated, the concentration of calcium and minerals in your urine goes up, and that can create the stones. 
 
 In a statement, Tasian said: 
 
 These findings point to potential public health effects associated with global climate change ... It is likely that higher temperatures increase the risk of kidney stones in those people predisposed to stone formation. Kidney stone prevalence has already been on the rise over the last 30 years, and we can expect this trend to continue, both in greater numbers and over a broader geographic area, as daily temperatures increase. With some experts predicting that extreme temperatures will become the norm in 30 years, children will bear the brunt of climate change. 
 
 This is just one of many ways that climate change may affect us in ways that we never expected. 
 
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 Read the full scientific paper in Environmental Health Perspectives. 

 As summer continues, rising temperatures can make people feel sweaty, dehydrated and just uncomfortable. However, a recent study published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives found that increasingly high temperatures can increase the number of kidney stones seen in U.S. residents. (Photo : Flickr) 
 
 As summer continues, rising temperatures can make people feel sweaty, dehydrated and just uncomfortable. However, a recent study published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives found that increasingly high temperatures can increase the number of kidney stones seen in U.S. residents. 
 
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 "We found that as daily temperatures rise, there is a rapid increase in the probability of patients presenting over the next 20 days with kidney stones," said study leader Gregory E. Tasian, M.D., M.Sc., M.S.C.E., a pediatric urologist and epidemiologist at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), in a news release. 
 
 For the study, researchers examined medical data on over 60,000 adults and children who suffered from kidney stones. They specifically studied cases that occurred between 2005 and 2011 in five main cities, including Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles and Philadelphia, in relation to temperature recordings. 
 
 Findings showed that as the daily temperatures in the city rose past 50 degrees Fahrenheit, the risk for developing kidney stones increased in all cities except Los Angeles. Furthermore, the risk for many spiked after being in high temperatures for three days or more. 
 
 Researchers said they were unable to pinpoint why hotter temperatures could increase the risk. However, they believe that as people are more likely to be dehydrated on warmer days, this can lead to an increase in the concentration of calcium and minerals that contribute to the problem. 
 
 "These findings point to potential public health effects associated with global climate change," said Tasian in the press release. "However...although 11 percent of the U.S. population has had kidney stones, most people have not. It is likely that higher temperatures increase the risk of kidney stones in those people predisposed to stone formation." 
 
 However, some areas in lower temperature areas-including Atlanta, Chicago and Philadelphia-there was also an increased risk of kidney stones. However, researchers said that because more people will remain indoors, heated areas can increase overall body temperature as well as the health risk.
– Climate change has taken blame for everything from the demise of penguins to a predicted guacamole shortage. Now, you can add kidney stones to that list. An Environmental Health Perspectives study finds that rising temperatures increase the risk of kidney stones, reports Science World Report. Researchers looked at 60,000 cases in Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia between 2005 and 2011 and found a pattern: As it got hotter, the number of patients turning up with kidney stones increased, usually within three days of a particularly hot spell, reports MedPage Today. "Kidney-stone prevalence has already been on the rise over the last 30 years," says a lead researcher from Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. "We can expect this trend to continue, both in greater numbers and over a broader geographic area, as daily temperatures increase." In Philadelphia's case, the chances of a patient seeking help when it was 86 degrees was 47% higher than at 50 degrees, notes the Inquirer. The culprit is dehydration, explains io9, because that leads to a buildup of calcium and minerals in people's urine. (Another potential result of warming temperatures: a jellyfish boom.)