A RECENT news story indicates increasing cases of children in the United States seeking medical attention due to kidney stones.

This issue has seen increased attention at recent pediatrics conferences, according to Dr Uri Alon who is professor of pediatrics at the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine. Dr Alon is also a physician at the Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City.
 

Too much processed food
 

The condition appears to be caused in part by children's love of processed food that is higher in salt content like cheeseburgers, fries and other salty foods.

Dr Pasquale Casale, an assistant professor of urology at University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine is a Fellow at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. He noted that the number of children treated there for kidney stones since 2005 has climbed from about 10 a year to five patients a week now.

"What we've really seen is an increase in the salt load in children's diet," said pediatric urologist Dr Bruce L Slaughenhoupt, an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin. He and other experts mentioned not just salty chips and French fries, but also processed foods like sandwich meats, canned soups, packaged meals, and even popular sports drinks like Gatorade.
 

Symptoms of having kidney stones
 

Children may exhibit one or some of the following:

• abdominal or back pain

The most common symptom, pain can range from a mild and barely noticeable ache to intense discomfort. Adolescents are more likely to have pain than young children. The area that is painful depends upon the location of the stone, which may change as the stone moves.

Most times, the pain comes and goes...but waves of severe pain (called renal colic) can last 20 to 60 minutes, although less severe pain can occur between episodes of renal colic.

It's also important to note that younger children may not be able to say exactly where they feel pain.

• blood in the urine (hematuria)

This can occur in 30-50% of children with kidney stones. The urine may appear pink or red-colored. In some cases, the blood may be visible only after a laboratory analysis.

• nausea or vomiting
• the urgent need to urinate.

Nausea or vomiting, pain with urination, and an urgent need to urinate can also occur when a child has a urinary tract infection. An evaluation is needed to distinguish between a urinary tract infection and a kidney stone. However, urinary tract infections are often seen in children with kidney stones.

But some young children may not show any of these symptoms. In such cases, the kidney stone is found accidentally via routine imaging tests (like x-ray or ultrasound).