We examined the association between kidney stones and renal cell carcinoma (RCC) and upper tract urothelial carcinoma (UTUC) risk in the Netherlands Cohort Study on diet and cancer.
In total, 120,852 participants aged 55-69 completed a self-administered questionnaire on diet, medical conditions and other risk factors for cancer at baseline (1986). After 20.3 years of cancer follow-up 4352 subcohort members, 544 RCC cases and 140 UTUC cases were eligible for case-cohort analysis. Hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated by multivariable-adjusted proportional hazards models.
Kidney stones were associated with an increased RCC risk (HR: 1.39, 95% CI 1.05-1.84), vs. no kidney stones. Kidney stones were associated with an increased risk of papillary RCC (HR: 3.08, 95% CI 1.55-6.11), but not clear-cell RCC (HR: 1.14, 95% CI 0.79-1.65). UTUC risk was increased for participants with kidney stones (HR: 1.66, 95% CI 1.03-2.68). No heterogeneity of associations was found for UTUC in the ureter and renal pelvis. An early kidney stone diagnosis (≤40 years) was associated with an increased RCC and UTUC risk, compared to later diagnosis.
Kidney stones were associated with increased papillary RCC risk, but not clear-cell RCC risk. No heterogeneity was found for UTUC subtypes.
British journal of cancer. 2018 Dec 19 [Epub ahead of print]
Jeroen A A van de Pol, Piet A van den Brandt, Leo J Schouten
Department of Epidemiology, GROW - School for Oncology and Developmental Biology, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands. ., Department of Epidemiology, GROW - School for Oncology and Developmental Biology, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands.