Epidemiologic Study of the Prevalence and Awareness of Cryptorchidism, Hydrocele, and Varicocele in Elementary Schools in Gwangju

Yong Hwang; Seong Woon Park

doi:10.4111/kju.2009.50.3.278

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Hwang and Park: Epidemiologic Study of the Prevalence and Awareness of Cryptorchidism, Hydrocele, and Varicocele in Elementary Schools in Gwangju

Original Article

Korean J Urol 2009;50(3):278-281.

Published online: 19 March 2009

DOI: https://doi.org/10.4111/kju.2009.50.3.278

Epidemiologic Study of the Prevalence and Awareness of Cryptorchidism, Hydrocele, and Varicocele in Elementary Schools in Gwangju

Yong Hwang, Seong Woon Park

From the Department of Urology, Kwangju Christian Hospital, Gwangju, Korea

Correspondence to: Seong Woon Park Department of Urology, Kwangju Christian Hospital, 190, Yanglim-ro, Nam-gu, Gwangju 503-715, Korea TEL: 062-650-5171 FAX: 062-650-5174 E-mail: swp153@gmail.com

Received 5 December 2008 Accepted 24 December 2008

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.

Abstract

Purpose

We investigated the prevalence and parent’s concern of cryptorchidism, hydrocele and varicocele among elementary school boys.

Materials and Methods

A total of 1,795 elementary school boys who resided in Gwangju were investigated by questionnaires. Among them, 1,115 boys who agreed to a physical checkup underwent physical examination between May and June 2007.

Results

The most frequent anomaly was hydrocele, which was seen in 37 boys (3.31%) on questionnaires and physical examination. The other anomalies were cryptorchidism in 17 boys (1.52%) and varicocele in 7 boys (0.62%). Most of the boys and their parents were not aware of their cryptorchidism (70.58%) and varicocele (71.42%). The boys who replied in questionnaires that they had been diagnosed with hydrocele appeared to had undergone hydrocele repair in the past.

Conclusions

By survey, the prevalence rates of cryptorchidism, hydrocele, and varicocele were 3.31%, 1.52%, and 0.62%, respectively. Education of the public and primary care physicians about cryptorchidism and varicocele and a screening system are needed to achieve better therapeutic outcome.

Keywords: Cryptorchidism, Testicular hydrocele, Varicocele, Prevalence

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Fig. 1.

Prevalence and awareness of the disease. The most frequent anomaly was hydrocele. Most of the boys and their parents were not aware of their cryptorchidism and varicocele.

Fig. 2.

Age distribution for each disease.

Fig. 3.

Grade of varicocele.

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