Epidemiology of urolithiasis consultations in the Paraíba Valley

Abstract

Objective: to know the epidemiological profile of patients with urolithiasis in the Paraíba Valley region, identifying its prevalence and spatial distribution. Method: we conducted a cross-sectional study, by residence location in the Paraíba Valley, on morbidity data due to urolithiasis obtained from the DATASUS, covering the period between 2010 and 2012. We aimed at identifying the general, male and female prevalence of urolithiasis, the distribution by age, type of visit, year season and spatial distribution. Results: there were 1,901 visits for urolithiasis in the 35 municipalities of the Paraíba Valley in the three years studied, 52.3% of them of female patients. Of the total, 70.1% of the visits were emergency ones. The feminine visits (67.2%) were mostly also urgent (p <0.01). The overall prevalence for urolithiasis was 31.7/100,000. Male prevalence was 30.7/100,000, and the female, 32.7/100,000 (p>0.05). The prevalence ratio was 0.9 men for every woman. The age group with the highest prevalence was between 30 and 39 years, with 23.1%. Warm seasons concentrated 51.6% of cases, while 48.8% occurred in the cold ones (p>0.05) . Conclusion: women are more affected by urolithiasis than the male in the Paraíba Valley region, an unprecedented in the literature. There was no relationship between the year season and the disease. We identified municipalities where preventive actions of urinary lithogenesis are required.

Epidemiology of urolithiasis in Asia

“…In most countries, males are predisposed to urolithiasis, with male to female ratio ranging from 1.3 to 5 ( Table 1 , Table 2 , Table 3 ) [2] , [62] , [38] . It may be associated with different dietary habits [48] . Men are more likely to have excessive alcohol and coffee, and consumed more meat than women.…”

“…However, it has been reported that the ratio is descending in many countries, including China, Japan, Thailand, India, Saudi Arabia and Turkey since 1990s, which meant females are more likely to be affected than before [7] , [21] , [35] , [36] , [39] , [48] , [49] , [50] . In India, the ratio is already below 1, which is in contrast to the previous study results [48] . In Japan, the ratio decreased from 3 (middle-aged group) to 1 (rest of the population) [40] , [51] .…”

“…In Japan, the ratio decreased from 3 (middle-aged group) to 1 (rest of the population) [40] , [51] . Along with the economic development and standard of living improvement, the differences of diet, lifestyle and occupations between the sexes have narrowed [48] , which can be attributed to the decrease of ratio. Estrogen excretion also decreases sharply after the age of 60 years.…”

“…Hot dry climate, which is typical in West Asia, can accelerate evaporation of body water from skin, and subsequently results in concentrated urine, which is a risk factor for precipitation of crystals and stone development. In summer and autumn, the prevalence and incidence of urolithiasis are higher than that in spring and winter in many countries or regions, such as India, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Iran [14] , [22] , [27] , [44] , [48] , [58] , [59] . For example, the prevalence in the south of China (22%–45%) is much higher than that in the north (14%) [8] .…”

Study on urolithiasis diagnosed in a private medical centre in Rajshahi City

“…One dissimilar result was found in the Paraiba Valley study by Silva and Maciel (2016) in connection with the occurrence of urolithiasis among different sexes, where they showed the prevalence ratio as 0.9 men for every woman with no statistically significant difference between them (p-value being >.05). 9 Regarding occurrence of urolithiasis in different age groups, this study showed the highest occurrence of the problem in the group of 'up to 20 years' for the females. But for the males, the age groups of '41 to 60' and '61 and above' years had the higher occurrence in comparison to other groups.…”