Urolithiasis, growth and blood pressure in childhood: A case-control study

Background & aims: Kidney stone is a life-threatening disease with subsequent complications, especially in children who overtake this disease in early ages. This study assessed the effect of kidney stone history on current blood pressure and growth parameters of children.

Methods: A two hundred children with (n = 100) and without (n = 100) a history of urolithiasis from Pediatric Urology clinics at the Aliasghar hospital, Tehran, Iran, participated in this case-control study. Several demographic data, height, weight, body mass index (BMI), BMI for age and blood pressure index were measured as the primary outcomes.

Results: type of birth and infancy feeding, carbohydrate and energy intake were significantly different between the two groups (P = 0.008, 0.002, 0.03 and < 0.001 respectively). Ordinal logistic regression analysis showed that the current weight (P = 0.001) and BMI for age (P = 0.02) of the stone formers were lower than the non-stone formers, while no significant association found between the blood pressure or current height and the history of urolithiasis.

Conclusion: Our findings suggest that childhood urolithiasis has no significant effect on growth failure and blood pressure in childhood but it has a little impact on weight and BMI for age in older ages.

Keywords: Blood pressure; Children; Growth; Kidney stone; Urolithiasis.