Association between blood urea nitrogen-to-albumin ratio and kidney stones: A cross-sectional study based on NHANES

Higher blood urea nitrogen-to-albumin ratio (BAR) is positively associated with kidney stones in NHANES 2007–2020, with external validation ORs around 1.029–1.030.

• Why it matters: The link between this inflammatory indicator and kidney stone risk is unclear, limiting evidence-based prevention and risk stratification.
• What they did: Using weighted multivariate logistic regression, restricted cubic splines, stratified analyses, and XGBoost on NHANES 2007–2020, then validating in an independent external cohort.
• The result: BAR showed a positive association across models (Model 1–3 OR = 1.029–1.030, all P < 0.001) and a nonlinear dose-response (nonlinear P = 0.0006), with XGBoost identifying BAR as the top predictor (Gain = 0.265).

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