Evaluation of Risk Factors and Stone Composition in Patients with Recurrent Renal Calculus: A Retrospective Descriptive Study from Tamil Nadu, India

Introduction: Renal stone disease is one of the most common occurring conditions in the general population with a prevalence of 12% in India. Recurrent renal stone occurrence is multifactorial and it is observed approximately 98% of patients will develop a recurrent stone within 25 years of the first episode. Aim: To analyse some of the various risk factors and stone composition in patients with recurrent renal calculi. Materials and Methods: This was a retrospective descriptive study done with 116 cases of recurrent renal calculi (treated both inpatient and outpatient) coming to the Department of Urology at Meenakshi Medical College, Kanchipuram, Tamil Nadu, India, for two years from May 2022 to April 2024. Various parameters like sex, age, duration of previous stone, stone analysis findings and history of diabetes, hypertension, tobacco/smoking and alcohol consumption (for more than 10 years). Results: Out of 116 cases, 79 were male (68.1%) and 37 were female (31.9%). Approximately 48.8% of patients were in the age group of 31-50 years, followed by 34.5% in age group of 51-70 years. Around 41.3% of the recurrences occurred within 1-5 years of previous stone episode. Most common component found in stone analysis was calcium (52.3%), followed by phosphate (51.2%). Diabetes was found to have a positive causal association for recurrent stones, 74.1% were found to be diabetic. However, it was found that insulin therapy is associated with a lower risk of stone recurrence. Previous urinary tract surgeries and genitourinary tuberculosis were also found to be a risk factor for recurrence. Descriptive statistics was represented as frequency tables and histogram graph. Conclusion: Recurrent renal calculus formation is a multifactorial disease with a male preponderance. Metabolic evaluation with stone analysis is mandatory for all recurrent stone formers.