More people are developing painful blockages in their kidneys, but they aren?t in the traditional age group for the condition.
Kidney stones, normally found in those between the ages of 44 and 74, are becoming fairly common among children, pediatricians at the Johns Hopkins Children?s Center reported Tuesday.
“More and more children with kidney stones are coming to us,” said kidney specialist Dr. Alicia Neu, co-director of Hopkins? kidney stone clinic. “While this is somewhat unexpected, it is not totally surprising given that so many other conditions are on the rise in children due to poor diet, such as high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes and obesity, to name a few.”
Kidney stones are rarely a serious condition but can be extremely painful and can cause urinary tract infections and bloody or cloudy urine.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention?s Vital and Health Statistics document released in August, about 1 million people are diagnosed with kidney stones each year.
Fewer than one in 10,000 cases occur in someone under age 18, though the CDC says the actual number is too small to be statistically accurate.
Kidney stone incidence rises to more than 4 in 1,000 for those who are 18 to 44 years old, then jumps to about 8 per 1,000 through retirement age before dropping again.
Doctors at Johns Hopkins said they don?t know exactly why these numbers are changing, although they suggest better screening tools allow earlier detection of kidney stones.
Eating too much salty food and drinking too little water are probably the main culprits.
“Clearly, when it comes to water consumption, what is needed is a cultural change, and schools have to play a role in making bottled water available and limiting soft drinks, as well as allowing children to visit the restroom as needed,” urologist Yegappan Lakshmanan, co-director of the center?s pediatric kidney stone clinic, said in a statement.
A good way to tell if a child is drinking enough water is by keeping track of their urge to urinate, which should be about every three hours.
Less frequent trips to the restroom might be a sign of dehydration, Lakshmanan said.
