Why Kidney Stones Are Hitting Kids Harder and Younger

Once a disease more prevalent in adults, factors such as the modern diet and sedentary lifestyle have increased the incidence in children.

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Kiera Parker was just 14 when she began experiencing sharp, sudden pain in her abdomen. Initially dismissed as menstrual cramps, the pain intensified, and she started seeing blood in her urine and having recurring urinary tract infections. An emergency room visit revealed a large kidney stone requiring immediate surgery. “The pain was unbearable,” Parker told The Epoch Times. “I couldn’t sleep, eat, or even speak with my parents.” Since her first episode in January 2019, Parker—a healthy athlete—has endured three kidney stone surgeries, each followed by stent placement, which she describes as “more painful than the stones themselves.” Once, doctors warned that her ureter—the tube carrying urine from the kidney to the bladder—might burst. “I’ve had about 50 ultrasounds,” Parker said. “I’ve never had a clean scan. No matter what I do, the stones are still there.”

Her case highlights a troubling trend: a rise in the prevalence in children of kidney stones, once rare in young patients.

Sharp Rise in Surgeries

“Numerous studies consistently report a stunning increase in urinary stone disease among children and adolescents,” Dr. Guido Filler, a pediatric nephrologist and author of “asSALTed,” told The Epoch Times. “Kidney stones are appearing at younger ages and are increasingly affecting females.”