Patients with chronic hyperglycaemia in the form of type 1 or type 2 diabetes have an elevated risk of developing kidney stone disease, a UK study suggests.

The findings, published in BMJ Open, also show that impaired glucose tolerance in patients with metabolic syndrome conveys a similar risk, the researchers say.

In the largest systematic review and meta-analysis to date — 13 studies covering 827,000 study participants — the team analysed data from 28,000 patients with diabetes, 32,000 with metabolic syndrome, and 12,000 with impaired glucose tolerance only.

They found that, compared with controls, patients with chronic hyperglycaemia had a 23% increased risk of kidney stone disease, those with impaired glucose tolerance had a 26% higher risk and those with metabolic syndrome had a 35% increased risk.