Correlation of Renal Colic Incidences with the Season, Gender and Age: Cross-Sectional Study

Özet

Introduction: In the present study, we researched whether meteorological changes affect the number of renal colic patients admitted to the hospital emergency department and whether this effect varies with gender and age. Methods: In this study, 5661 patients admitted to the emergency medicine clinic of Fatih Sultan Mehmet Training and Research Hospital between the dates of January 2017 and December 2017 with renal colic complaints were retrospectively scanned with International Classification for Diseases- 10 (ICD 10) N23 (renal colic) code. Renal colic was diagnosed and treated by emergency medicine physicians. Average temperature and humidity values according to months were acquired from the Republic of Turkey Ministry of Forestry and Water Affairs General Directorate of Meteorology. Results: This study was conducted with a total number of 5661 cases between the ages of 2 and 91. 3344 (59.1%) of the patients were male, and 2317 (40.9%) were female. The average examination age of the cases was 41.58±14.63. There was a statistically significant difference between the seasons in terms of the examination ages of the cases (p=0.001). As a result of the dual comparisons, the average examination age of the cases in the summer season was found to be lower at a statistically significant level than the averages of the cases in Winter (p=0.001), Spring (p=0.001) and Fall (p=0.045) seasons (p<0.05). Discussion and Conclusion: In our study, we detected that meteorological parameters have an effect on renal colic development, and this effect varies according to the age and gender of the patient. Especially in the warmer months, male patients are more sensitive towards dehydration than female patients, probably due to the hormonal mechanisms, so the renal colic incidence is higher in these patients. Thus, the suggestion is to increase fluid intake and not to stay dehydrated.