Comparison of individuals consuming natural spring water and tap water in terms of urinary tract stone disease.

OBJECTIVES To compare individuals consuming natural spring water and tap water in terms of presence of urinary tract stone disease. PATIENTS AND METHODS Patients were divided into two groups on the basis of the type of water: tap water (Group I) vs natural spring water consumers (Group II). The two groups were compared in terms of presence of urolithiasis. In addition to the type of water consumed, participants were investigated in terms of age, sex, occupation, body mass index (BMI) and presence of hypertension (HT) and diabetes mellitus in order to evaluate if they constituted a risk factor for urolithiasis. RESULTS Two hundred fifty-nine patients consuming tap water and 254 consuming natural spring water were included in this study. Presence of urinary stone disease was determined in 27% of patients in Group I and 26% of Group II (p = 0.794). At multivariate analysis involving all variables that might be correlated with the presence of urolithiasis; male gender, high BMI and presence of HT emerged as being significantly associated with urolithiasis. CONCLUSIONS Although we showed that male gender, presence of HT and high BMI affect stone formation, no difference was demonstated in terms of presence of stone among patients consuming tap or natural spring water.