ReviewUrology annals
Potassium citrate for stone prevention - Quantifying benefit through the number needed to treat: A narrative review.
Review in Urology annals. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
To define how reliable the benefits of potassium citrate (KCit) for stone prevention are framing this in terms of the number needed to treat (NNT). A targeted search of PubMed/MEDLINE, Embase, and the Cochrane Library was conducted through January 2025. For studies reporting recurrence rates in treatment and control groups, absolute risk reduction (ARR) and NNT were calculated. Two pivotal randomized trials in recurrent calcium stone formers demonstrated large ARRs with KCit or potassium-magnesium citrate, lowering 3-year recurrence rates from approximately 60%-80% in placebo groups to 10%-30% with therapy. Corresponding ARRs were around 50%, yielding NNTs of approximately 2 over 3 years. Evidence is strongest for calcium oxalate disease; data for calcium phosphate and brushite stones remain limited. In uric acid and cystine stones, alkalinization is first-line therapy, although precise NNT estimates are unavailable. KCit is one of the most effective preventive pharmacotherapies in nephrolithiasis. In recurrent calcium stone formers, treating two to three patients for approximately 3 years prevents one recurrence, representing a highly favorable benefit-risk profile when appropriately monitored and individualized by stone phenotype.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.