Urolithiasis in patients with inflammatory bowel disease: A systematic review and meta-analysis of 13,339,065 individuals

This study aimed to summarize the current literature regarding the prevalence of renal stones in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). Moreover, we aimed to evaluate the risk factors of urolithiasis in patients with IBD and the difference between patients with IBD and healthy controls in terms of urinary profile. METHODS: On February 23, 2022, a computerized search was conducted on PubMed, OVID via MEDLINE, Web of Science, and Scopus using relevant keywords. Three independent reviewers performed 2-stage screening and data extraction. The National Institutes of Health tools were employed for quality assessment. Review Manager 5.4 software was used to calculate the mean difference (MD) between IBD patients and non-IBD in terms of urine profile using the Inverse-variance model and to estimate the odds ratio of reported risk factors for renal stones with the Generic Inverse-Variance model. RESULTS: Thirty-two articles (n = 13,339,065 patients) were included. The overall prevalence of renal stones in patients with IBD was 6.3%, 95% Confidence interval (4.8%–8.3%). The prevalence of urolithiasis was more common in Chron’s disease vs Ulcerative colitis (7.9% vs 5.6%) and in old studies (1964–2009) than in more recent studies (2010–2022) (7.3% vs 5.2%), respectively. Compared to non-IBD patients, patients with IBD were associated with significantly lower urine volume (MD = −518.84 mL/day, P < .00001), calcium 24-hour urine (MD = −28.46 mg/day, P < .0001), citrate 24-hour urine (MD = −144.35 mg/day, P < .00001), sodium 24-hour urine (MD = −23.72 mg/day, P = .04), and magnesium 24-hour urine (MD = −33.25 mg/day, P < .00001). CONCLUSION: The overall prevalence of renal stones in patients with IBD was comparable to the general population. Patients with Chron’s disease were associated with a higher prevalence of urolithiasis compared to Ulcerative colitis. Drugs that induce renal calculi should be stopped in high-risk patients.