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Physicians More and more young people are suffering from kidney stones
More and more kidney stones are detected in adolescents. But what is the cause of the increased diseases? The kidney stones are likely to be the result of inadequate water intake and unhealthy lifestyles, say physicians.
Young people drink too little water and live unhealthily. Because of this, many adolescents are likely to develop kidney stones, scientists claim in a recent study. The kidney stone problem has doubled in less than 20 years. The results of their study, the researchers published in the journal "Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology".
The incidence of kidney stones in children and adolescents has dramatically increased in recent years in the United States. (Image: psdesign1 / fotolia.com) Kidney stones are especially common in adolescents, young women and African-Americans
More and more young people have kidney stones problems. American physicians suggest that the increase in disease is triggered by inadequate water intake. Young people, young women and African Americans are particularly affected, said pediatric urologist and epidemiologist Gregory Tasien in the study. Access to water must be made easier, especially at the schools.
Study examines data from 4.6 million patients
Kidney stones are generally solid fragments of minerals in combination with acid salts that occur in the kidneys. These kidney stones are then expelled from the body, and they pass under enormous discomfort and usually extremely painful our urinary tract. In about 30 percent of cases, the deposits must be removed by surgery, explain the doctors. Otherwise, the kidney stones are excreted through the urethra.
The pain can be so distressing that they are also compared with a childbirth, the urologist added. For their study, the American scientists examined the data of 4.6 million patients. Of these, about 153,000 people were affected by kidney stone disease, the researchers explained. The medical data was collected between 1997 and 2012. During this period, the prevalence of such diagnoses among adolescents increased by approximately 4.7 percent annually. Overall, the likelihood of developing kidney stones among American children doubled. In women, the probability increased by up to 45 percent, the physicians in their study.
In the age group between ten and 24 years, the diagnosis rates were much higher in women than in male subjects.
On the other hand, for subjects over the age of 25, the diagnoses looked very different. Here, most kidney stones were found in men, the experts report. It had been observed that African Americans had an additional 15 percent increased risk. In light of these recent findings, the authors of the study suggest that more emphasis should be placed on our daily water supply, as dehydration is the major source of kidney stones. Especially in times of global warming, dehydration is a very important issue, said the doctors.
Our diet must be healthier, according to the researchers. People should avoid overly salty foods and focus on increasing their intake of calcium-rich products such as cheese, yogurt, milk, leafy vegetables, soybeans and sardines. Especially children should pay attention to these instructions, as the frequency of kidney stones in this age group show, the scientists said.
The presence of kidney stones has historically been linked to other health problems such as heart disease, arteriosclerosis, strokes, osteoporosis and chronic kidney disease. Such susceptibility is particularly high in younger women, so further efforts should be made to prevent the development of kidney stones, the study authors suggested.