Publication:

Utility of urinary calcium/creatinine ratio in evaluation of urinary stone formers: a Sudanese case control study

Background Hypercalciuria is a common cause of urinary stone formation in both children and adults; one of the components of the comprehensive evaluation of stone formers is to measure 24 hours urinary calcium, which is a complicated method especially in children, therefore some physicians depend on calcium creatinine ratio instead of it. The objective of this study was to assess the utility of calcium/creatinine ratio as an evaluation tool for hypercalciuria in urinary stone formers.

Methods This was a case control study in which forty patients of urinary stone formers along with fifteen healthy controls group were enrolled; after fulfilling specific inclusion and exclusion criteria a questionnaire was filled, then an early morning urinary samples were collected for calcium and creatinine measurement to calculate the calcium creatinine ratio.

Results The results showed significantly higher mean value of calcium/creatinine ratio in the stone formers group compared with controls one. Also there were statistically insignificant differences in the urinary calcium between the two groups. Moreover this study showed higher mean values of both calcium and calcium/creatinine ratio in recurrent stone formers when compared with first time stone former.

Conclusions This study concluded that calcium/creatinine ratio is a useful and easier method for the initial evaluation of stone formers.