title: Pattern of urinary tract stone diseases in Mekelle, Ethiopia.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate and analyze the pattern of patients with urinary stone diseases admitted to Mekelle Hospital.
  
  
  METHODS
  Between Sept 2003 to Sept 2006, 102 patients with urinary stone disease were admitted to Mekelle Hospital. In this descriptive retrospective audit, case notes were obtained from medical record office and were analyzed for age, sex, localization of the stone disease and the geographic back grounds. Seventy six (74.5%) of the patients were males and 26 (25.5%) were females.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were 102 (13.6%) cases of urinary stone disease admitted to Mekelle Hospital out of 750 total admissions for urological disease for intervention in the surgical ward during the study period. There were 76 (74.5%) males and 26 (25.5%) females and the sex ratio was (M: F: 2.9:1). Most (46.0%) of the urinary stone diseases were between 0-19 year age group both in males and females. The median age was 20 years (range from 2-74 years) and the mean was 25.4 years. Urinary bladder stones were the most common urinary tract stone diseases accounting for 47 (46.0%) followed by renal stones 29 (28.4%), ureteric 16 (15.6%) and urethral 10 (9.8%) stone disease; in that order of frequency. The geographical back ground of the patients with urinary tract stone disease in this report has shown that majorities (53.7%) were from urban and the remaining (44.2%) were from the rural areas.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study has depicted that urinary bladder stone diseases are the most common stone diseases affecting the younger age group. Since this is an institutional based study, it underestimates the magnitude and the pattern of urinary stone diseases at all level. Nevertheless, the audit provides useful information on the socio demographic variables, localization and the geographic back ground of the patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Mekelle Hospital, Ethiopia.
authors.forename: Mekonnen Hagos
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Alemu
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D005002:Ethiopia / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012737:Sex Factors; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014545:Urinary Calculi / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000601:surgery; D055815:Young Adult