94% of researchers rate our articles as excellent or good
Learn more about the work of our research integrity team to safeguard the quality of each article we publish.
Find out more
ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Med.
Sec. Nephrology
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmed.2025.1558628
Association between life's Crucial 9 and kidney stones: a population-based study
Provisionally accepted- Department of Urology, Lanzhou University Second Hospital, Lanzhou, Gansu Province, China
Purpose: This study examined the association between the Life’s Crucial 9 (LC9) score and kidney stone prevalence in U.S. adults.Methods: Using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) spanning 2007 to 2014, this cross-sectional analysis focused on adult participants with kidney stone onset or recurrence. LC9 scores were divided into four quartiles for analysis. Weighted multivariable logistic regression, restricted cubic spline (RCS) modeling, threshold effect analysis, and subgroup analyses were employed to evaluate the relationship between LC9 scores and kidney stone prevalence.Results: The study included 24,669 participants with an average age of 46.05 ± 0.34 years and a mean LC9 score of 73.76 ± 0.25. The overall prevalence of kidney stones was 8.45%, while the average recurrence rate stood at 2.96%. Importantly, for each one-point increase in the LC9 score, the incidence of kidney stones dropped by 1.2% (95% CI: 0.979 to 0.997, P = 0.014). Compared to the lowest quartile (Q1), the Q4 group exhibited a 0.305-fold higher recurrence rate (95% CI: 0.159 to 0.586, P < 0.001). Interaction analysis showed that race and gout significantly influenced the relationship between the LC9 score and kidney stone risk. Additionally, curve fitting and threshold effect analysis demonstrated a nonlinear association between LC9 scores and kidney stone recurrence, with a breakpoint identified at 72.777.Conclusion: An elevated LC9 score correlates with a lower risk of both kidney stone formation and recurrence. Maintaining an optimal LC9 score could be an effective approach for preventing kidney stones.
Keywords: Kidney stone, Life's Crucial 9, NHANSE, Cardiovascular health, Depression
Received: 10 Jan 2025; Accepted: 24 Feb 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Li, Liu, Wang, Yang, Wang, Chen and Yang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Li Yang, Department of Urology, Lanzhou University Second Hospital, Lanzhou, 730030, Gansu Province, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.