According to the reports of the Urological Society of India, the disorders related to urology are more common in adults and older people as compared to the young generation. The urinary system plays a vital role in healthy body function. It helps in filtering all the wastage in the body while passing it through urine.

Urological diseases can affect women, men, and children of all ages. However, the severity can differ from one person to another.  Disorders related to the ureters, bladder, and urethra come under the category of urology. Various urological disorders include urinary incontinence, overactive bladder, stress incontinence, urinary tract infections, kidney stones, phimosis treatment, bladder stones, or benign prostate hyperplasia.  Read below to understand the most common urological diseases:

Urinary Incontinence

This is one of the most common urological problems. This condition can lead to leakage of urine at unwanted times. Incontinence is common among pre-schoolers. It’s usually the result of kids waiting until the last minute to go to the bathroom. Urinary incontinence, or daytime wetting, is more common than fecal incontinence, or soiling. Bladder or bowel is rarer among elementary and secondary students. Causes of incontinence include:

Overactive bladder constipation can result in urinaryor fiscal9I8I9 incontinence problems related to other conditions, such as diabetes, inflammatory bowel diseases, irritable bowel syndrome, and spina bifida.

Children who leak urine when most of their classmates are dry may have a bladder control problem. Both daytime wetting and bedwetting are common and tend to fade away as children mature. In some cases, health conditions can lead to wetting.

Overactive Bladder

This disorder generally causes frequent urge to urinate or difficulty in controlling the urine which may result in leakage. At times, the urinary bladder muscles start contracting involuntarily, leading to cramps. Overactive bladder can be a result of bladder stones, older age, diabetes, or urinary tract infections.

Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs)

UTIs can be caused due to an infection in any part of the urinary system. UTI is a common infection in babies and children. It is more common in girls. It is estimated that 1 out of 10 girls will have will have had a UTI by the age of 16 and 1 out of 16 boys will have UTI by the age of 16 years.

1 out of 50 babies and young children will have a UTI by the age of 2 years.

Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia (BPH)

This condition is also referred to as prostate gland enlargement. BPH is a common urological disorder that occurs in older men. This disorder can lead to discomforting symptoms such as blockage in the flow of urine, bladder infection, kidney-related problems, or urinary tract inflammation. BPH can also be a result of a family history associated with urological disorders.

Kidney and Ureteral Stones

In this urological condition, small stones occur in the kidney. These stones when stuck in the tubes connecting the kidney to the bladder are called ureteral stones. This urological condition can result in painful symptoms such as nausea, severe pain, fever, chills, blood in the urine, or vomiting.

Bladder Stonesladder stones. Such stones are usually a result of minerals that concentrated urine crystallize and form small crystals. The stones usually occur when one can not void the bladder. Bladder stones can lead to painful symptoms such as pain during urinating, lower abdominal pain, the frequent urge to urinate, bleeding in urine, or interrupted urine flow.

Phimosis is a condition in males in which the foreskin doesn’t pull back from the tip of the penis. Every boy is born with a tight foreskin. With age, the foreskin starts to retract and by the time they turn 3, this no longer remains a problem as the foreskin completely loosens up. This is a common problem in young boys which usually gets cured on its own. But in severe cases, when urination becomes difficult or pain is severe, phimosis treatment becomes essential.

Our Conclusion

The above-mentioned urological disorders are most common among people. These conditions can affect the quality of life, resulting in painful symptoms like difficulty in urinating, burning sensation while passing the urine, blood in the urine, pain in the genitals, itching, redness, frequent urge to urinate, or leakage of urine.

If you are experiencing any of these signs, it is highly advisable to consult an experienced urologist. The urologist will conduct a thorough diagnosis to detect the root cause of the urological disorder while advising the best-suited treatment to cure it.

What is Kidney?

Kidneys are a bean shaped organ, two in number located on either side of the spine. Each is about the size of a fist. Microscopically, they are made up of millions of small units called nephron. It is these nephrons which are responsible for filtration of blood and formation of urine by the kidneys.

How is urine formed and micturation happens?

Kidney receives blood through renal arteries and then filters them through nephrons, and thus the urine is formed. Hereafter, urine is passed into the two ureters ( each one arising from respective kidney) and finally into the urinary bladder. Urinary Bladder acts as a reservoir for urine, which on receiving signal from the brain releases the urine through a passage called urethra and thus, the act of micturation ( passage of urine) takes place.

As you can see that simple act of passing urine, actually takes place with help of a complex system of many interconnected organs which are working round the clock so as to keep our body fluids balanced.

What are the functions of kidney ?

Kidney as an organ has utmost importance in removing waste products from our body, along with balancing of body fluids. These two functions are of high significance as they are responsible to maintain homeostasis of our body.

However, kidney role does not end there, it is imperative for many other functions.

Our blood pressure is majorly regulated by kidneys, thus kidney diseases often present with hypertension.

It has role in maintaining our hemoglobin, as it produces EPO (erythropoietin ) which helps in RBC production.

Kidney helps in maintaining bone health and keeps calcium balance, and is thus very important in growth of children.

Aren’t kidney problems uncommon in children?

Kidney disease is a global public health problem that affects more than 750 million persons worldwide.The burden of kidney disease varies substantially across the world, and evidence suggests that its incidence may be much more than reported in developing countries like India due to lack of data accuracy.

Amongst a huge burden of kidney diseases in India, pediatric kidney diseases are often ignored and pediatric patients, specific needs are time and again overlooked.

As reported by various centers, about 10 %- 12% admission in pediatric department are due to kidney related diseases. However, this does not reflect true numbers, as majority of pediatric patients are still treated by adult nephrologists.

What are the symptoms of kidney disease?

Unfortunately, most of the kidney diseases do silent damage and seldom, we find overt symptoms in all the cases. Most of the patients are not aware, and by the time they are diagnosed they have already reached the stage of kidney failure.

Some of the common signs and symptoms which a one can recognize are blood in urine, swelling over eyes or feet, burning micturation , decreased urine, urinary incontinence , bed wetting .

Nevertheless, there always subtle signs and symptoms which may be noticed either by parents or general practitioner such as anemia, poor growth and development, short stature ,hypertension , urinary tract infections ( especially if recurrent)

What Can You Do?

Certain steps can be taken for early recognition and treatment of kidney disease in children.

Regular health check up, yearly BP measurement, monitoring growth and development parameters at every visit.

Any of the above mentioned signs and symptoms, one should consult their doctor at the earliest and seek specialist help whenever necessary.

Following medication prescription accurately is another aspect which often overlooked. A regular follow up, monitoring and following prescription orders correctly are of extreme importance for good outcomes

One should not undermine the importance of healthy diet and regular exercise. Obesity significantly adds to morbidity of any medical condition thus, a well cooked home based diet as recommended by your doctor should be followed along with daily exercise routine.