Association between food insecurity and kidney stones in the United States: Analysis of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2007–2014

PURPOSE: Although food insecurity is a major public health concern associated with various diseases, the relationship between food insecurity and kidney stones remains unclear. We aimed to investigate the association between food insecurity and kidney stones in the US population. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Four continuous cycles of data from the year 2007 to 2014 were obtained from National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) in the current study. We utilized the Household Food Security Module to assess the food security status of individuals. The primary outcome was whether participants ever had kidney stones, and the secondary outcome was a stone recurrence. A multivariate logistic regression model adjusting for potential confounders was constructed to evaluate the independent association between food insecurity and kidney stones. RESULTS: A total of 21,914 participants were included in our analysis, with 8.8% having a history of kidney stones and 33.2% of these reporting stones recurrence. Food insecurity was associated with increased risks of kidney stones (odds ratio: 1.21; 95% confidence interval: 1.05–1.39; P = 0.010) and kidney stones recurrence (odds ratio: 1.33; 95% confidence interval: 1.00–1.77; P = 0.052) after adjusting for all potential confounders. In addition, participants with very low food security had 38% and 47% higher risks of kidney stones (odds ratio: 1.38; 95% confidence interval: 1.13–1.69; P = 0.002; P for trend = 0.009) and kidney stones recurrence (odds ratio: 1.47; 95% confidence interval: 1.03–2.10; P = 0.032; P for trend = 0.029), respectively. CONCLUSION: There exists a significant association between food insecurity and kidney stones, which reveals the significance of the improvement of food insecurity in the alleviation of kidney stone formation and recurrence.