Urolithiasis in childhood. A study of 181 cases

Abstract

181 of 2,606 patients hospitalized for urolithiasis in 12 years were younger than 15 years (6.9%). In accordance with the data given by other authors, we found the incidence of urolithiasis in children to be 1-5%, which, at least in Central Europe, corresponds approximately with that in adults. The causative factors or cofactors we established were malformation of the kidneys and urinary tract in 35.9%, and infections of the urinary tract in 80.7%. Defined metabolic disorders were found in only 5.5% of patients. Stone analysis showed a predominance of phosphate-containing calculi. Control examinations were done in 154 children over periods of 6 months to 11 years. "Recurrent lithiasis' was seen in 32 patients, however, the exact comparison of pre- and postoperative X-ray films showed that in 17 cases the calculi had not been completely removed during surgery (11%). Consequently, a real recurrent lithiasis was present in 15 children only (9.9%). Since the West Berlin population includes a high percentage of Turkish people, we can conclude from our case material that even those Turkish children who were born in West Berlin suffer from urolithiasis 2-2.5 times as often as German children of the same age-groups.