title: Urologic diseases in America Project: analytical methods and principal findings.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The burden of urological diseases on the American public is immense in human and financial terms but it has been under studied. We undertook a project, Urologic Diseases in America, to quantify the burden of urological diseases on the American public.
  
  
  METHODS
  We identified public and private data sources that contain population based data on resource utilization by patients with benign and malignant urological conditions. Sources included the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, National Center for Health Statistics, Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, Department of Veterans Affairs, National Association of Children's Hospitals and Related Institutions, and private data sets maintained by MarketScan Health and Productivity Management (MarketScan, Chichester, United Kingdom), Ingenix (Ingenix, Salt Lake City, Utah) and Center for Health Care Policy and Evaluation. Using diagnosis and procedure codes we described trends in the utilization of urological services.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In 2000 urinary tract infections accounted for more than 6.8 million office visits and 1.3 million emergency room visits, and 245,000 hospitalizations in women with an annual cost of more than 2.4 billion dollars. Urinary tract infections accounted for more than 1.4 million office visits, 424,000 emergency room visits and 121,000 hospitalizations in men with an annual cost of more than 1 billion dollars. Benign prostatic hyperplasia was the primary diagnosis in more than 4.4 million office visits, 117,000 emergency room visits and 105,000 hospitalizations, accounting for 1.1 billion dollars in expenditures that year. Urolithiasis was the primary diagnosis for almost 2 million office visits, more than 600,000 emergency room visits, and more than 177,000 hospitalizations, totaling more than 2 billion dollars in annual expenditures. Urinary incontinence in women was the primary cause for more than 1.1 million office visits in 2000 and 452 million dollars in aggregate primary cause for more than 1.1 million office visits in 2000 and 452 million dollars in aggregate annual expenditures. Other manuscripts in this series present further detail for specific urologic conditions.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Recent trends in epidemiology, practice patterns, resource utilization and costs for urological diseases have broad implications for quality of health care, access to care and the equitable allocation of scarce resources for clinical care and research.
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, David Geffen School of Medicine, Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of California, Los Angeles, California, USA. mlitwin@mednet.ucla.edu
authors.forename: Mark S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Litwin
authors.forename: Christopher S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Saigal
authors.forename: Elizabeth M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Yano
authors.forename: Chantal
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Avila
authors.forename: Sandy A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Geschwind
authors.forename: Jan M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Hanley
authors.forename: Geoffrey F
authors.initials: GF
authors.lastname: Joyce
authors.forename: Rodger
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Madison
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Pace
authors.forename: Suzanne M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Polich
authors.forename: Mingming
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D017281:Cost of Illness; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D017048:Health Care Costs / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D009819:Office Visits / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D014570:Urologic Diseases / Q000191:economics* / Q000453:epidemiology*