RESEARCH ARTICLE

Vitamin D deficiency in smokers: A potential risk factor for kidney stone

Subendu Sarkar.1 Manas Kamal Sen.2 Rajender Pal Singh.3 Gorachand Bhattacharya.4 

• .1Central Research Laboratory, ESIC Medical College and Hospital, NH-3, NIT, Faridabad 
• .2Department of Respiratory Medicine, ESIC Medical College and Hospital, NH-3, NIT, Faridabad 
• .3Department of Experimental Medicine and Biotechnology, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh 
• .4Apollo Multispecialty Hospitals. 58, Canal Circular Road. Kolkata
•  

Corresponding Author: Subendu Sarkar. ESIC Medical College and Hospital, NH-3, NIT, Faridabad, Haryana-121001, India. E-mail: [email protected]

Received: April 16, 2025                                               Published: May 31, 2025

Citation: Subendu S. Vitamin D deficiency in smokers: A potential risk factor for kidney stone. Int J Complement Intern Med. 2025;6(2): 349–357. DOI: 10. 58349/IJCIM. 2. 6. 2025. 00152

Copyright: ©2025 Subendu S. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and build upon your work non-commercially

Abstract 

Nephrolithiasis is a major cause of concern for the clinicians due to its growing incidents globally. However, the risk of developing kidney stone is high in case of smokers. The present study describes the plausible mechanisms smokinginduced nephrolithiasis. Literature survey is done with tobacco smoking, kidney stone formation, vitamin D deficiency, and molecular mechanisms. PubMed, Web of Science, Google Scholar, Embase, Scopus are used to search articles up to March 2025. Peer reviewed full articles in English language are taken into consideration. Several reports claim that both active and passive smoking are involved in the vitamin D deficiency. Vitamin D deficiency results in the elevation of calciuria followed by CaOx and CaP stone formation. It causes the activation of ROS-dependent signalling pathways and inflammation. These alterations lead to renal tubular epithelial cell injury. Vitamin D supplementation may be beneficial in this regard so that the normal level may be maintained. 

Keywords: Nephrolithiasis; Kidney stone; Renal calculi; Smoking; Vitamin D

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