uti Urogenital Tract Infection Urogenit Tract Infect 2465-8243 2465-8510 Korean Association of Urogenital Tract Infection and Inflammation 10.14777/uti.2018.13.01.14 uti-13-14 Original Article Epidemiology and Outcomes of Acute Flank Pain in University-Affiliated Regional Emergency Medical Centers KimSeon Tae HwangYoung ParkSeung Chol 1 LeeJea Whan 1 Departments of Emergency Medicine Urology, Wonkwang University School of Medicine, Iksan, Korea Correspondence to: Jea Whan Lee http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1368-1928 Department of Urology, Wonkwang University School of Medicine, 460 Iksan-daero, Iksan 54538, Korea Tel: +82-63-859-1335, Fax: +82-63-842-7379 E-mail: mygentlelove@gmail.com 042018 19042018 13114 20 24032018 14042018 14042018 Copyright © 2018 Korean Association of Urogenital Tract Infection and Inflammation 2018 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Purpose:

Acute abdominal pain accounts for 7-10% of all emergency department visits. The purpose of this study is to investigate the epidemiology and outcome of acute flank pain at regional emergency medical centers (EMC) and to investigate the necessity of urologists.

 Materials and Methods:

We retrospectively reviewed all records of EMC visits for flank pain between 1 July 2015 and 30 June 2017. The renal colic was defined according to the code allocation of the Korean standard classification of disease-6 code N132, N200-N203, and N210-N211. The results of this study were retrospectively analyzed and the characteristics of the patients.

 Results:

The total number of visits to the EMC was 67,792, and the number of visits for acute abdominal pain was 9,641. The number of visits for acute flank pain was 1,133 and the number of patients was 1,018. The departments included emergency medicine (n=235), urology (n=711), internal medicine (n=132), general surgery (n=19), gynecology (n=10), and others (n=26). The causes of urological flank pain were urolithiasis in 628 cases, infection in 41 cases, and other diseases in 42 cases. Among these, 244 cases were admitted, and 193 cases of them were urolithiasis patients, and 171 patients underwent stone removal surgery.

 Conclusions:

According to our study, patients with flank pain accounted for 11.8% of patients with abdominal pain. However, considering hospitalization and frequency of surgery, it is necessary to take the national measurement for the long-term supply of urology.

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Analysis of patient's arrival time in the emergency room.

Seasonal analysis.

Number and rate of patients admitted with renal colic

Variable Data
All cases 67,792
  Acute abdominal pain 9,641 (14.2)
  Acute flank pain 1,133 (1.7)
Acute flank pain patient 1,018
  Sex  
   Male 547 (53.7)
   Female 471 (46.3)
Mean age (y) 53.8
  Male 51.7
  Female 56.3
Treated by urology cases 711
Treated by urology patient 622
  Sex  
   Male 388 (62.4)
   Female 234 (37.6)
  Mean age (y) 52.8
   Male 51.8
   Female 55.3

Values are presented as number only or number (%).

Care trends of patients with acute flank pain in the emergency room

Variable Data
All cases 1,251 (100)
  Emerency medicine 273 (21.8)
  Urology 722 (57.7)
  Internal medicine 158 (12.6)
  General surgery 22 (1.8)
  Gynecology 11 (0.9)
  Others 65 (5.2)
Diagnosis  
  Urinary stone 699 (61.7)
  Infection 231 (20.4)
  Others 203 (17.9)
After treatment  
  Inpatients 349 (30.8)
  Outpatients 784 (69.2)
The final medical department 1,133 (100.0)
  Emerency medicine 235 (20.7)
  Urology 711 (62.8)
  Internal medicine 132 (11.7)
  General surgery 19 (1.7)
  Gynecology 10 (0.9)
  Others 26 (2.3)

Values are presented as number (%).

Care trend of urology patients in the emergency room

Variable Data
The final urology treatment patient 711 (100.0)
  Urinary stone 628 (88.3)
  Infection 41 (5.8)
  Others 42 (5.9)
After treament  
  Inpatients 244 (34.3)
  Outpatients 467 (65.7)
Stone in inpatients 193 (79.1)
Patients undergoing surgery 171 (70.1)
  Male 98 (57.3)
  Female 73 (42.7)
  Mean age (y) 55.6

Values are presented as number (%) or mean.