Occurrence of Urinary Crystals among Urinary Tract Infections Suspected Paediatric Patients, Sri Lanka

Abstract

Crystalluria has become one of the most vital biomarkers in urinalysis in detecting several disease conditions. It has been reported that urinary tract infections (UTI) may be the presenting sign of Urolithiasis in children. Therefore, the objective of this study was to identify and estimate the different types of crystals in the urine samples collected from UTI suspected children who admitted to the Lady Ridgeway Hospital for children, Sri Lanka. A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted using 400 children belong to age<12 years suspected with UTI. The participants included 242 males and 158 females. The urine samples were collected prior to start antibiotics. Each sample was examined macroscopically and centrifuged at 2000 rpm for 5 minutes. The urine sediment was examined under the light microscope and different crystal types were identified and counted at x40 magnification. Out of 400 samples 82 samples (82/400) were positive for crystalluria. The crystal types present were uric acid, calcium oxalate, triple phosphate, ammonium biuate and ammonium urate. None of the samples showed abnormal crystal types. The distribution of each crystal type was as follow; uric acid 25/82, calcium oxalate 34/82, triple phosphate 12/82, ammonium biuate 7/82 and ammonium urate 4/82. The quantity of crystals per mL of urine was ranged as follow; uric acid 850-130,000, calcium oxalate 350- >250,000, triple phosphate 650-6,000, ammonium biurate and ammonium urate were presented in clumps.

KEYWORDS: Crystalluria, Uric Acid, Calcium Oxalate, Triple Phosphate, Ammonium Biurate, Ammonium Urate, Urolithiasis, Urinary Tract Infections