Studies of Bladder Stone Disease in Thailand

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Abstract
Selected clinical and statistical aspects of urolithiasis at Ubol Provincial Hospital, Ubol, Thailand, are presented. During the studied 7-year period, 3,913 patients with bladder or urethral stones and 398 patients with ureteral or renal stones were admitted to the hospital. An additional 345 patients with urethral stones were treated in the Outpatient Department. Bladder and urethral stones constituted 17.4% of totah surgical admissions and over 48% of all nonobstetrical operations. Patients with lower GU tract stones were young; modal age at admission for urethral stones was 1 year; for bladder stone, 3 years. The male-female admission ratio was 4.6:1. Admission statistics suggest that bladder stone disease is a leading cause of morbidity in the population served by the hospital. Since 14 patients in the reported series died during or following an operation, and a few were admitted with evidence of uremia, a not insignificant mortality rate must also be associated with this disease. Morbidity and mortality due to urolithiasis in Ubol require further study. Patients came to Ubol Hospital from all adjacent provinces and from Laos. A threefold, statistically significant difference in annual average hospitalization rates was observed in 2 of 18 administrative districts in Ubol Province. No conclusion could be reached whether these differences were real or resulted from hospital selection phenomena. No conclusions could be reached from hospital data concerning the incidence of bladder stone in urban versus rural communities, within families or between different ethnic groups.

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