Kidney Stones Cases In US Kids Increase

Kidney stones - that painful condition - is on the rise especially among children in the US.It is said that kidney stones can cause excruciating pain - sometimes even more than the pain during childbirth.

Kidney Stones are usually an adult malady.But nowadays it seems to affect the younger lot as well.Kids seem to be the new victims of kidney stone problems.

Especially in a country like the US,kidney stone problems among kids seems to be rising.Doctors in the country are puzzled over these rising incidences of kidney stones.While the number of kids being affected isn't huge,kids with kidney stones have been turning up at hospitals around the country at a higher frequency.

Kidney stones in kids has been the talk  of ecent paediatric kidney specialists' conferences.At Children's Hospital of Philadelphia,the number of children treated for the condition since 2005 has climbed from about 10 a year to 5 patients a week now,said Dr.Pasquale Casale.John Hopkins Children Center in Baltimore is a referral centre for children with stones.It used to treat 1 or 2 youngsters a year 15 or so years ago.Now it gets calls about new cases every week.In a 2007 study in the Journalof Urology,doctors at North Shore-Long Island Jewish Medical Center reported a fivefold increase in children brought in with kidney stones between 1994 and 2005.In 2005,61 youngsters were treated there for the condition.

According to D.Uri Alon,director of the bone and mineral disorders clinic at Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City,eating too much salt can result in excess generation of calcium in the urine.In children,according to Dr.Alon most stones are calcium based.This is a result of the eating habits of the children.The consumption of junk foods like cheeseburgers,fries and other salty foods seems to the main cause for the problem.Along with this children also drink too little water.All these habits puts children at a higher risk of kidney stones problem.