Mayo Clinic Health Manager
Get free personalized health guidance for you and your family.
Get Started
close window
Housecall Archives
About our e-newsletters
- Free e-newsletters
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- We do not share your e-mail address
Housecall, our weekly general-interest e-newsletter, keeps you up to date on a wide variety of health topics with timely, reliable, practical information, recipes, blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts and more. Our biweekly topic-specific e-newsletters also include blogs, questions and answers with Mayo Clinic experts, and other useful information that will help you manage your health.
Housecall Archives
close window
Mayo Clinic Housecall
Stay up to date on the latest health information.
What you get
- Free weekly e-newsletter
- Mayo Clinic expertise
- Recipes, tools and other helpful information
- We do not share your e-mail address
Risk factors
By Mayo Clinic staffIn developing nations, bladder stones are common in children — often because of dehydration and a low-protein diet — but in other parts of the world, bladder stones occur primarily in older men. If you live in an industrialized country, these factors increase your risk:
- Your sex. Bladder stones occur primarily in men.
- Your age. In wealthy countries, bladder stones tend to occur in people age 50 and older, although younger men who have urinary retention may also develop stones.
- Bladder outlet obstruction. The most common cause of bladder stones in men, bladder outlet obstruction refers to any condition that blocks the flow of urine from your bladder to the urethra, the tube that carries urine out of your body. Bladder outlet obstruction has many causes, but the most common is an enlarged prostate. Other possible causes include prostate cancer, narrowing of the urethra from infection or surgery — even certain medications.
- Neurogenic bladder. Stroke, spinal cord injuries, Parkinson's disease, diabetes, a herniated disk and a number of other problems can damage the nerves that control bladder function. Some people with neurogenic bladder may also have an enlarged prostate or other type of bladder outlet obstruction, which further increases the risk of stones.
- Frequent bladder infections. Inflammation from chronic bladder infections can lead to the formation of bladder stones.
References
- Managing bladder dysfunction. Clinical Center: National Institutes of Health. http://clinicalcenter.nih.gov/ccc/patient_education/pepubs/bladder/bladder7_9.pdf.Accessed Oct. 4, 2008.
- Weinstein AJ. Urinary calculi (stones/urolithiasis/nephrolithiasis). In: Weber CG. The Clinical Medicine Consult. Pacific Primary Care; 2008. http://clinicalmedconsult.com. Accessed Oct. 4, 2008.
- Pearle MS, et al. Urologic diseases in America: Urolithiasis. National Kidney and Urologic Diseases Information Clearinghouse.http://kidney.niddk.nih.gov/statistics/uda/Urolithiasis-Chapter08.pdf. Accessed Oct. 4, 2008.
- Medical management of stone disease. American Urological Association. http://www.urologyhealth.org/search/index.cfm?topic=102&search=bladder%20AND%20stones&searchtype=and. Accessed Oct. 4, 2008.
- Hammad FT, et al. Bladder calculi: Did the clinical picture change? Urology. 2006;67(6):1154-1158.
- Garcia Cardozo JV, et al. Bladder calculi: Is extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy the first treatment choice? Archives of Spanish Urology. 2003;56(10):1111-1116.
- Gravel root. Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database. http://www.naturaldatabase.com. Accessed Oct. 5, 2008.
- Stone root. Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database. http://www.naturaldatabase.com. Accessed Oct. 5, 2008.
- Hydrangea arborescens. Natural Medicines Comprehensive Database. http://www.naturaldatabase.com. Accessed Oct. 5, 2008.
- Ellis H. A history of bladder stone. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. 1979;72(4):248-251.
