Kidney Stones in Children

Kidney stone is a painful disease that is spreading at a quite high speed among the people of all age groups. No doubt pain and disease is not an easy task to bear for any person but just imagine how difficult it is for a child to remain in pain or to bear the pain the pain during the treatment.

The children being fond of salty food stuff and not maintaining the habit of taking the right amount of water often fall prey to this ailment. According to the latest survey conducted by the medical science there is a strong relationship between the salt (sodium chloride) intake and blood pressure is direct and progressive without an apparent threshold and children being having taste of salty food stuff more are at higher risk of getting kidney stones. In view of the currently high levels of salt intake, a daily sodium intake of less than 2,300 mg is recommended. Many patients will benefit from further reductions in salt intake, including hypertensive individuals, blacks, and middle- and older-aged adults. Individuals should concurrently increase their consumption of potassium because a diet rich in potassium blunts the effects of salt on blood pressure.

National Diet and Nutrition Surveyed on the growing rate of kidney stones in children and the survey showed that children, aged 4-18, are consuming an average of 5.9g of salt a day, but this did not include salt they may add at the table, which the survey believed to be in the region of 25%. Some experts believe this to be an under-estimate, and do include salt eaten by very young children who eat proportionately less food. 24 hour urinary collections are the only true way of estimating salt intake.

The study report conducted by the Health insurance coverage for children showed continued improvement in 2004 over 90 percent of America's children had health insurance at the time of the interview – a steady rise from the first report in 1997. In 2004, 9.4 percent of children – 7 million children under 18 years of age – were without health insurance. In contrast, in 1997, about 14 percent – 10 million children – lacked coverage. The report also states that among poor and near-poor children, lack of coverage dropped by about a third from 1997. For near-poor children, public coverage almost doubled from 24 percent to 43 percent between 1997 and 2004. Nearly 70 percent of poor children fewer than 18 years of age rely on public coverage.

"Children's issues in kidney stones are coming to the forefront now. Because of environmental factors and advances in technology, old treatment paradigms are being questioned and novel therapies are being created," a well known doctor stated. It is expected that timely diagnosis of the disease and best treatment surely leads to positive results and helps one to lead a better quality of life for these children and their families.