Pregnant women have a lot of different problems to face, such as kidney stones during pregnancy. Since there are a lot of physical changes occurring in this period, women have the possibility to develop a new stone.
The truth is that while some of the changes increase the chances of a stone, others decrease it. As a result the chances of pregnant women to have a kidney stone are about the same as the chances of non-pregnant women.
The odds of getting a kidney stone while pregnant
The changes that lead to the formation of kidney stones while being pregnant include the fact that the output of the cardiovascular system of women increases. In the same time the filtration activity of the kidneys needs to increase.
In this period there is more calcium absorbed through the intestines and so more of this nutrient is released into the urine. Some other urinary substances also increase during this time that prevents the formation of stones, such as citrate.
Pregnancy causes the upper urinary tract to dilate because of the hormones and as a result of the pressure put on by the uterus. Usually the changes are more drastic on the right side. As a result the transport of urine could be slower and the chances of an infection become higher.
Facts to consider
A research conducted in France studied 244 pregnant women who had kidney stones with 5,712 non-pregnant women. According to the findings of this study the majority of the stones got formed during the second and third trimester.
The good news regarding pregnancy kidney stones is that about 81% of women were able to spontaneously pass the stones. In the majority of the cases the stones were made of calcium phosphate instead of calcium oxalate that is more common. This shows that the stones during pregnancy are different from the stones of non-pregnant women.