Causecast

By redOrbit Staff

Doctors are scratching their heads to understand an apparent rise in the number of children with kidney stones , typically an adult condition. Some believe that kids’ love of burgers, fries and other salty foods is behind the increase.

The malady causes excruciating pain, worse than childbirth in some cases. And while the number of affected children isn’t alarming, an increasing number of kids with kidney stones have been showing up at hospitals throughout the country.

Johns Hopkins Children Center in Baltimore, a referral center for kids with kidney stones, used to treat one or two children annually 15 years ago, but now receives calls for new cases every week, according to kidney specialist Dr. Alicia Neu.

At Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia , the number of children treated for kidney stones since 2005 has jumped from roughly 10 per year to five patients a week now, Dr. Pasquale Casale told the Associated Press.

A 2007 study published in the Journal of Urology reported a fivefold increase in the number of children with kidney stones brought in to North Shore-Long Island Jewish Medical Center between 1994 and 2005, with 61 children treated for kidney stones in 2005.

Dr. David Hatch at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, IL , told the AP he has also seen an increase. He said his youngest patient was an irritable 8-month-old baby whose mother had found a pea-size kidney stone in the girl’s diaper.

Dr. Uri Alon, director of the bone and mineral disorders clinic at Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, told the AP that children’s’ stones were a big topic during recent pediatric kidney specialists’ conferences.

While evidence is anecdotal, Alon is involved in research seeking to determine whether the increase is real and not just the result of greater awareness and better detection.

He is also researching whether better nutrition can prevent kidney stones in children. Consumption of excess salt can result in too much calcium in the urine. Since most stones in children are calcium-based, Alon said eating habits, combined with drinking too little water, can put children at risk. Doctors generally advise drinking plenty of water to help prevent kidney stones.

Eight year old Matty Billemeyer has already has had four bouts with stones since 2007, when he was first stricken during his first-grade class. His parents, the school nurse, and even the emergency room doctors, all initially believed it was his appendix.

“It felt really painful and intense,” the Doylestown, Pa., boy told the AP.

“I was really scared because it was hurting a lot.”

Darryl Billemeyer was frightened to see his son screaming and writhing in pain. Matty was transferred from a local hospital to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, where an ultrasound test revealed kidney stones.

“We really didn’t know what to make of it,” Billemeyer told the AP.

“I definitely thought they were more of an adult thing.”

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