Clinical Features and Risk Factors of Pediatric Urolithiasis

Objective: urolithiasis in children although occurring less often than adults, causes considerablemorbidity. the main aim of this study is to evaluate clinical features and risk factors of pediatricurolithiasis.material & methods: all children with documented urolithiasis who were referred todepartment of pediatric nephrology between 1999 and 2005, were evaluated from the point ofdemographic features, family history, clinical symptoms, imaging results and laboratoryfindings.findings: we investigated 184 patients (100 females and 84 males) with urolithiasis between 2months and 14 years of age (mean age 3.66±3.49 years). the stones' diameter was 3-27 mm(mean 8.20±5.36). in 85.8% of cases the stone was located only in kidneys and in 3.3% only inbladder. the most common causes of presentation were urinary tract infection (uti),restlessness and gross hematuria. positive family history was detected in 41%, uti in 40.8%,anatomic abnormality in 13% and sterile pyuria in 18.5% of patients. metabolic evaluation,which was carried out in 162 patients, revealed that 104 (64%) of them had a metabolic riskfactor including normocalcemic hypercalciuria (42%), hyperuricosuria (10.5%), cystinuria(7.4%), and hyperoxaluria (4.3%).conclusion: all children with urolithiasis should be completely evaluated, as most of them havean anatomic, infectious or metabolic risk factor.