| Summary: | Objective: Shock wave lithotripsy (SWL) is widely available due to its ease of use and noninvasive nature, and it is highly effective for fragmentation of stones. After SWL became widely used, a number of urinary tract complications, such as hematuria, infection, and pain due to difficulty passing fragmented stones, were also reported. Long-term complications, such as hypertension and diabetes mellitus, were also raised by the previous reports. The association between SWL and development of new hypertension has become a matter of debate due to the publication of controversial data. In the present study, we aimed to determine whether SWL led to the development of hypertension.
Methods: Data were sourced from the Longitudinal Health Insurance Database (LHID2000) of Taiwan, Republic of China, compiled by Taiwan National Health Insurance (NHI) from 1996 to 2010. Patients who underwent SWL were compared with controls matched for age, sex, obesity, diabetes mellitus, and hyperlipidemia using the Taiwan NHI database.
Results: There was no difference in the incidence of new hypertension between SWL and comparison groups. Interestingly, the average new hypertension onset time was faster in the SWL group than in the control groups.
Conclusion: On the basis of our results, SWL is a safe procedure for properly managed nephrolithiasis patients.
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