Women with a history of kidney stones face a “modest but statistically significantly” elevated risk for coronary heart disease (CHD), a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) finds. The same does not appear true for men.

Over 240,000 health professionals without CHD at baseline were followed for a median of nine years. Nearly 20,000 reported a history of kidney stones either at baseline or during follow-up, and roughly 17,000 cases of CHD occurred during follow-up.

After multivariable adjustment, women with a history of kidney stones had an increased risk for CHD. Kidney stones were not associated with CHD in men, however.

“The presence of an unknown inherent metabolic state” that causes both kidney stones and heart disease might underlie the association observed in women, the authors write. They call for more research to examine whether the association is sex-specific.