Evidence Hub

Serum estradiol and testosterone levels in kidney stones disease with and without calcium oxalate components in naturally postmenopausal women

Zhao Z, Mai Z, Ou L, Duan X, Zeng G

PloS one, 2013

113 participants

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Epidemiological data reveal that the overall risk for kidney stones disease is lower for women compared to age-matched men. However, the beneficial effect for the female sex is lost upon menopause, a time corresponding to the onset of fall in estrogen levels. The aim of this study was to describe the serum estradiol (E2) and testosterone (T) characteristics of naturally postmenopausal women with kidney stones.

METHODS: 113 naturally postmenopausal women with newly diagnosed kidney stones (aged 57.4±4.98 years) and 84 age frequency matched stone-free controls (56.9±4.56 years) were validly recruited in the case-control study. The odds ratios (ORs) for the associations between sex hormones and kidney stones were estimated with logistic regression models, adjusting for demographic data and medical history. Patients were also stratified analyzed according to stone components (calcium oxalate stones [COS]; non-calcium oxalate stones [NCOS]).

RESULTS: Serum E2 (21.1 vs. 31.1 pg/ml) was significantly lower in kidney stones patients compared to controls. Post-hoc analysis demonstrated that this effect was driven by COS patients (p<0.001). According to tertiles of the E2 levels, a significant higher frequency of COS was seen in the lowest E2 group (p <0.001). Multiple logistic regression analysis identified E2 level as a strong factor that was independently associated with the risk for COS (per 1 SD increase, OR=0.951, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.919-0.985; highest:…

How strong is the evidence?

Evidence Hub reads this as a case-control, done in people. Its evidence level is 4 of 5 (Low · observational). Observational designs can show an association but not prove cause. Reported size: 113 participants or records.

How the five levels of evidence work. The level is assigned automatically from the abstract and can be wrong, so check the paper.

Read the paper

Related studies

Go deeper in Evidence Hub

Evidence Hub adds a study data sheet (design, sample size, evidence level, key numbers), an AI summary and a chat grounded in the paper's text.

Open this study Sign up free