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Risk factors
By Mayo Clinic staffThese factors may increase your risk of developing kidney stones:
- Lack of fluids. If you don't drink enough fluids, especially water, your urine is likely to have higher concentrations of substances that can form stones. That's also why you're more likely to form kidney stones if you live in a hot, dry climate or exercise strenuously without replacing lost fluids.
- Family or personal history. If someone in your family has kidney stones, you're more likely to develop stones too. And if you've already had one or more kidney stones, you're at increased risk of developing another.
- Age and sex. Most people who develop kidney stones are between 20 and 70 years of age. Men are more likely to develop kidney stones than are women.
- Diet. A high-protein, high-sodium and low-calcium diet may increase your risk of some types of kidney stones.
- Limited activity. You're more prone to develop kidney stones if you're bedridden or very sedentary for a long period of time. That's partly because limited activity can cause your bones to release more calcium.
- Obesity. High body mass index (BMI), increased waist size and weight gain have been linked to kidney stones in long-term studies of large populations. The relationship is strongest in women.
- High blood pressure. Having high blood pressure doubles your risk of forming kidney stones.
- Gastric bypass surgery, inflammatory bowel disease or chronic diarrhea. Changes in the digestive process affect your absorption of calcium and increase the levels of stone-forming substances in your urine.
