Sonographic Evaluation of the Relationship between Rheumatoid Arthritis and Renal Stones

Background/ Considering the different renal manifestations of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), we carried out this study to investigate the prevalence of renal stones in patients with RA compared to general population. Patients and From January 2000 to March 2001, 74 patients with RA and 58 healthy individuals as the control group were evaluated for kidney stones with sonography. All patients were diagnosed on the basis of 1987 criteria of American College of Rheumatology (ACR).1 In the group of patients with RA, 6 out of 74 subjects (8.1%) had renal stones. The prevalence of renal stones in the control group was 8.6% (5 out of 58 persons). The difference in the incidence of renal stones in the two groups was not statistically significant. The size of renal stones in the two groups was not significantly different. We did not find any relationship between the duration of RA or its various symptoms and the incidence of renal stones. Although RA involves kidneys and in previous studies it was mentioned that the incidence of renal stones in the patients with RA is higher than general population, we did not find any significant statistical correlation between RA and the incidence of renal stones in our study.