Obesity and stones

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With all the attention to the epidemic of obesity in children today, little attention has been paid to a less obvious “epidemic”: kidney stones. Once largely a condition of adults (or children with unusual underlying conditions), urolithiasis is becoming a much more frequently made diagnosis in pediatric nephrology and urology practices. There has been a suggestion that the two conditions could somehow be linked. There are a number of metabolic conditions that are known to predispose to urolithiasis. In this issue of The Journal, Tiwari et al studied 46 obese adolescents to determine if they had an increased number of known risk factors for urinary stone formation. Indeed, they did. The relative saturation of calcium oxalate, a measure of the likelihood of precipitation of the most common minerals in renal stones, was elevated in the group as a whole, and the degree of elevation was correlated with the number of metabolic syndrome risk factors. Another stone-formation risk factor, low urine pH, was similarly correlated with metabolic syndrome risk factors. Although this is a preliminary study, and is somewhat at odds with existing studies in adults, it serves to draw our attention to the fact that the consequences of overweight in children extend beyond the obvious cardiovascular complications. Article page 615▶ Metabolic Syndrome in Obese Adolescents is Associated with Risk for NephrolithiasisThe Journal of PediatricsVol. 160Issue 4PreviewTo examine the relationship between urinary pH and metabolic syndrome risk factors along with insulin resistance in obese adolescents, and to evaluate the relationship between other urinary stone-forming and -inhibiting markers and metabolic syndrome. Full-Text PDF