Occupation and urinary tract stone disease.

Certain occupations have a high incidence of urinary tract stone disease and in view of the potential nephrotoxic effects of metals and the heavy industry in the Glasgow area, a review of occupations of patients attending our stone clinic was done to discover if patients had been exposed to hot-metal processes. Sixty-three per cent of male patients had been exposed to hot-metal fumes for periods ranging from one to fifty years. A random population of asymptomatic stone formers discovered on epidemiologic screening showed that only 26 per cent of these patients could have had exposure to hot metals. Certain epidemiologic aspects of stone disease are reviewed. Little work has been done on occupational aspects of stone disease, and there is scope for further investigation in this area.