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Kidney Stones Tied to Global Warming

By Dan Vergano
,
USA Today
posted: 52 DAYS AGO
comments: 6
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(July 15) -- Global warming could do more than hurt polar bears: It could force a rise in kidney stones, scientists warned Monday.
"We see a relationship between kidney stones and temperatures everywhere," says study co-author Margaret Pearle of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas. "Even in places with air conditioning, warmer temperatures mean more stones."
Kidney stones result from salts crystallizing in the kidneys, often triggered by dehydration, causing famously painful blockages. Nationwide, kidney stones strike about 12% of all men and 7% of women over their lifetime.
Warm southeastern states get 50% more cases than northeastern ones. The new research says global warming will drive this so-called kidney stone "belt" north triggering at least 1.6 million new cases by 2050.
The United Nations-sponsored Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change last year warned that industrial emissions of greenhouse gases very likely would raise average global temperatures 3 to 7 degrees this century, raising risks for heat stroke and expansion of tropical diseases such as malaria.
The kidney stone finding, reported Monday by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, combines the panel's projections of higher U.S. temperatures with Medicare and Veterans Administration health records stretching from 1982 to 2005 to estimate how many extra U.S. kidney stone cases will result from global warming. The analysis predicts:
-- The cost of treating kidney stones will rise 25% by 2050, a bump of at least $900 million compared with 2000.
-- High-risk zones will cover 56% of states by 2050 and 70% by 2095.
-- Midwestern states will take the brunt of the expansion if cases rise in straight-line fashion with temperature.
"Everyone in warmer temperatures is at higher risk for kidney stones, so the findings make perfect sense," says nephrologist David Goldfarb of New York University Medical Center, who was not part of the study. "What's so impressive about this study is how they've brought together models of warming and kidney stones for the first time."
Kidney stones have been on the rise nationwide since 1976, and studies have shown summer bumps in cases, Pearle says.
Drinking water and staying cool can limit kidney stone risks, Goldfarb says. People with a family history of kidney stones are at higher risk. "And not everyone can stay inside. We see lots of soldiers from Iraq with kidney stones," Goldfarb adds.
Copyright 2008 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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2008-07-15 20:51:21
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firecracker2536

09:45 AMJul 26 2008

The facts are stark: The world simply isn't warming as Gore and his pet scientists said. That's why 31,000 other scientists, including world figures such as physicist Prof Freeman Dyson, atmospheric physicist Prof Richard Lindzen and climate scientist Prof Fred Singer, issued a joint letter last month warning governments not to jump on board the global warming bandwagon. "There is no convincing scientific evidence that human release of carbon dioxide, methane, or other greenhouse gases is causing or will, in the foreseeable future, cause catastrophic heating of the earth's atmosphere and disruption of the earth's climate."

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BKKING

11:04 PMJul 25 2008

i am soooo tired of hearing everything blamed on global warming

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Dailldiva24

01:17 AMJul 20 2008

umm ud have to be a complete idiot for not comprehending that our environment...hence ..the (weather) has everything to do with our bodies and how it works.

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XoJIRACHIoX

09:16 PMJul 18 2008

Got a problem? Blame it on global warming. Works every time.

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(1)

Judy0077

04:47 PMJul 17 2008

What the article means is that not drinking enough water can be caused by the increase in temperatures. Hotter weather means people need to drink "extra" water than before to keep hydrated.

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Simzillyjp

09:12 AMJul 17 2008

You get kidney stones from either too much vitamin D or NOT drinking enough water. Can't blame the weather for everything.

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