Studies of Bladder Stone Disease in Thailand

Abstract

A survey for prevalence of bladder stone symptoms, types of rice consumed, infant feeding practices, and maternal dietary habits was made in 97 villages in 6 provinces and 3 regions of Thailand. Previous studies had shown that bladder stone was highly endemic in North and Northeast Thailand, regions dominantly populated by glutinous rice-eating Lao-Thai. In this study bladder stone was found to occur at moderate prevalence rates (6.2/1,000) among persons eating ordinary rice and living in Korat Province. This observation suggested that glutinous rice was not a necessary factor in the etiology of stone. The custom of early feeding of rice to infants was found to be practiced by a majority of surveyed families in North and Northeast Thailand but rarely by families in rural villages on the Central Plain. A significant association was found between this practice and bladder stone prevalence not only in the 3 regions sampled but within a group of 25 villages in Korat Province. Within this latter group, families feeding infants rice during the 1st week of life had a prevalence rate of bladder stone disease twice that of families supplementing after this time. Families eating glutinous rice more frequently fed infants rice earlier in life than did families eating ordinary rice, even when these families lived in the same or adjacent villages. Bladder stone prevalence was not found to correlate with consumption of any of six forest plants studied. It was suggested that the observed age distribution of symptomatic disease could result entirely from neonatal stone formation.