Since the 1970s, the prevalence of kidney stones has risen 70 percent.
According to a study in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, the connection could be exposure to antibiotics.
Reviewing health records in the UK, researchers found that exposure to any of five classes of antibiotics increased the risk of kidney stones.
Broad-spectrum penicillins increased the risk by 27 percent. Sulfa drugs more than doubled the risk, according to the New York Times.
Other antibiotics that increased risk: Cephalosporins, fluoroquinolones and nitrofurantoin.
Researchers speculated that the cause could be interaction of antibiotics with gut bacteria.
