Kidney stones, also known as nephrolithiasis, happen when minerals and salts form hard deposits that can get caught in the urinary tract.
The number of annual kidney stone cases rose 16 percent from 1997 to 2012, with the greatest increase among 15- to 19-year-olds, particularly women, the study shows. Men become more susceptible to nephrolithiasis at age 25.
The study was led by Dr. Gregory Tasian, a pediatric urologist at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and followed nearly 153,000 patients who were treated for kidney stones.
Kidney stones in adults are typically linked to conditions such as obesity, hypertension, and diabetes, but that’s not the case with children, Tasian told NBC News.
“In children, we’re not seeing that,” said Dr. Tasian told the outlet. “They’re otherwise healthy and simply come in with their first kidney stone for unclear reasons.”
According to the National Kidney Foundation, stones can be found in children as young as five years old. Furthermore, there’s a 50 percent chance that those who developed one stone will get another one within five to seven years, the foundation noted.
Experts have not determined exactly what is driving this increase among youths but speculated that a combination of factors are involved, including diets high in ultra-processed foods, increased use of antibiotics early in life, childhood obesity, and dehydration. Kidney stones can also be genetic.
“The summary is that hot days increase the frequency of kidney stone events, presentations,” he told the outlet. “The risk of these events is higher among males than females and better predicted by moist heat metrics such as heat index or wet bulb temperatures than the commonly used dry heat.”
“While it is unlikely that climate change has been a significant contributor to the increase in kidney stones among children and adults over the last 20 years, it is likely that climate change will increase the number of people affected by stones in the future,” Dr. Tasian said.
