A top endocrinologist is urging GPs to refer patients with kidney stones for bone mineral density screening, after a study found one in four were likely to also have osteoporosis.

US researchers examined data on more than half a million veterans (median age 64, 93% men), who were diagnosed with renal calculi between 2007 and 2015 in a bid to ascertain rates of osteoporosis.

This revealed 25% already had a history of osteoporosis or fracture when they were diagnosed with nephrolithiasis, with non-hip fractures the most common, accounting for 19% of them.

And among members of the cohort with no prior history of osteoporosis, about 10% underwent dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) scans within five years of their kidney stone diagnosis.