"Kidney stone disease has been rising in recent years, affecting roughly 10% of people," says Jeremy Burton, from St. Joseph's Health Care London. "While previous research has shown a connection between the gut microbiome and kidney stones in those who have taken antibiotics, we also wanted to explore the connection to other microbiomes in the hopes we can advance understanding and potential treatments."

Using a specific genetic analysis technique, researchers from Lawson Health Research Institute and Western University scientists examined the microbe makeup of the three regions in 83 patients who had kidney stones, as well as those of 30 healthy people. What they found was that those with kidney stones had changes in not one but all three microbiomes. The patients with the formed kidney stones also had at least 90 days since taking antibiotics – which has previously been linked to stone prevalence.