Moderately increased risk of urinary stone disease in patients with biopsy-verified coeliac disease

Background: Urinary stone disease is a mal-absorptive disorder that is a significant health problem because of its high prevalence and incidence. However, there are few population-based studies on the risk of urinary stone disease in patients with coeliac disease (CD).

Aim: To examine the risk of urinary stone disease in CD.

Methods: Population-based cohort study. Using small intestinal biopsy report data from 1969 to 2008 obtained from all Swedish pathology departments (n = 28), we identified 28 735 patients with CD (equal to Marsh 3: villous atrophy). Patients were then matched for gender, age, county and calendar year to 142 177 reference individuals from the Swedish general population. We used Cox regression to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) for future urinary stone disease and conditional logistic regression to calculate odds ratios (ORs) for urinary stone disease before diagnosis of CD. Individuals with urinary stone disease were identified through the Swedish National Patient Register that contains data on inpatient care, outpatient care and day surgery.

Results: During follow-up, 314 individuals with CD and 1142 reference individuals developed urinary stone disease. This corresponded to a 27% increased risk of urinary stone disease in CD [95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.12-1.44]. CD patients had an absolute risk of urinary stone disease of 107/100 000 person-years (excess risk of 23/100 000). Risk estimates were similar in men and women, and did not differ according to age at CD diagnosis. Conditional logistic regression found that patients with CD were at a slightly increased risk also of prior urinary stone disease (OR = 1.19; 95% CI = 1.06-1.33).

Conclusion: In this study, coeliac disease was associated with a moderately increased risk of urinary stone disease both before and after coeliac disease diagnosis.