Biochemical risk factors for stone formation in a Scottish paediatric hospital population.

BackgroundRenal stones in children, although rare, may be associated with morbidity and renal damage. Scottish children have a different ethnic composition and diet compared with paediatric populations previously studied. Urinary stone promoters include calcium, oxalate and urate. Postulated inhibitors include citrate and glycosaminoglycans (GAGs). We tested the hypothesis that Scottish paediatric stone-formers have higher excretion of urinary stone promoters (calcium/oxalate/urate) and/or lower excretion of stone inhibitors (citrate/GAGs) than children with isolated haematuria and controls.MethodsIn this case-controlled study, we measured creatinine, calcium, oxalate, urate, citrate and GAGs in random urine samples from 24 stone-formers (excluding inherited metabolic disorders), median age 10.2 (range 1.0–17.2) y; 25 patients with isolated haematuria, 6.3 (0.6–13.7) y; and 32 controls, 7.5 (0.8–14.7) y.ResultsExcretion of urinary promoters and inhibitors differed among stone-formers, haematuria and contr...