The age of onset shows a bimodal distribution in women, with episodes peaking at 35 and 55 years. Recurrence rates are estimated at 50% over a 10-year and 75% over 20-year period, with some people experiencing ten or more episodes over the course of a lifetime.A 2010 review concluded that rates of disease are increasing. History
The existence of kidney stones was first recorded thousands of years ago, with various explanations given; Joseph Glanvilles Saducismus Triumphatus, for example, gives a detailed description of Abraham Mechelburgs voiding of small stones through his penis virga, attributing the issue to witchcraft.In 1901, a stone discovered in the pelvis of an ancient Egyptian mummy was dated to 4,800 BC. Medical texts from ancient Mesopotamia, India, China, Persia, Greece, and Rome all mentioned calculous disease. Part of the Hippocratic Oath suggests there were practicing surgeons in ancient Greece to whom physicians were to defer for lithotomies, or the surgical removal of stones. The Roman medical treatise De Medicina by Aulus Cornelius Celsus contained a description of lithotomy, and this work served as the basis for this procedure until the 18th century.Examples of people who had kidney stone disease include Napoleon I, Epicurus, Napoleon III, Peter the Great, Louis XIV, George IV, Oliver Cromwell, Lyndon B. Johnson, Benjamin Franklin, Michel de Montaigne, Francis Bacon, Isaac Newton, Samuel Pepys, William Harvey, Herman Boerhaave, and Antonio Scarpa.New techniques in lithotomy began to emerge starting in 1520, but the operation remained risky.
It typically comes in waves lasting 20 to 60 minutes caused by peristaltic contractions of the ureter as it attempts to expel the stone.The embryological link between the urinary tract, the genital system, and the gastrointestinal tract is the basis of the radiation of pain to the gonads, as well as the nausea and vomiting that are also common in urolithiasis. Postrenal azotemia and hydronephrosis can be observed following the obstruction of urine flow through one or both ureters.Pain in the lower-left quadrant can sometimes be confused with diverticulitis because the sigmoid colon overlaps the ureter, and the exact location of the pain may be difficult to isolate due to the proximity of these two structures. Risk factors
Dehydration from low fluid intake is a major factor in stone formation. Individuals living in warm climates are at higher risk due to increased fluid loss. Obesity, immobility, and sedentary lifestyles are other leading risk factors.High dietary intake of animal protein, sodium, sugars including honey, refined sugars, fructose and high fructose corn syrup, and excessive consumption of fruit juices may increase the risk of kidney stone formation due to increased uric acid excretion and elevated urinary oxalate levels (whereas tea, coffee, wine and beer may decrease the risk).Kidney stones can result from an underlying metabolic condition, such as distal renal tubular acidosis, Dents disease, hyperparathyroidism, primary hyperoxaluria, or medullary sponge kidney.