Global warming to 'raise incidences of kidney-stones'

Researchers in the US have predicted that global warming may increase the number of Americans who suffer from kidney stones.

A team of urologists from UT Southwestern Medical Center and UT Dallas suggest that global warming is likely to worsen cases of dehydration, which is one of the risk factors associated with kidney-stone disease.

The researchers forecast that increased temperatures will lead to 1.6 to 2.2 million more cases of kidney stones by 2050.

Senior author of the report, published in the latest issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Dr Margaret Pearle said: "This study is one of the first examples of global warming causing a direct medical consequence for humans.

"There is a known geographic variation in stone disease that has been attributed to regional differences in temperature. When people relocate from areas of moderate temperature to areas with warmer climates, a rapid increase in stone risk has been observed."

The southeast of America is known as the 'kidney-stone belt' because of the high proportion of people living in those states who suffer from the condition.