The Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Urological Emergencies, 8 Months Results of a Multicenter Retrospective Study From Turkey.

OBJECTIVES

We aimed to reveal the change of urological emergencies during the COVID-19 pandemic compared to the same period of the previous year.

METHODS

The number of admissions to the emergency department (ED), admissions to the urology outpatient clinic, emergency urological consultations, and urological and emergency urological surgeries during the periods April-November-2019 and April-November-2020 were recorded. The data of the COVID-19 period were compared with the previous year.

RESULTS

While the number of admissions to the urological outpatient clinic was 160,447 during the COVID period, it was 351,809 during the non-COVID period. The number of admissions to the ED decreased from 3.2 million to 2.4. The number of admissions to the urology outpatient clinic significantly decreased by 54% during the pandemic (p=0.001). Percutaneous cystostomy performed due to acute urinary obstruction decreased by 27.96%, double J stent, nephrostomy decreased by 16.61%, and ureterorenoscopy decreased by 12.26%. Urogenital trauma also decreased. On the contrary, surgical procedures performed due to penile fracture, gross hematuria, Fournier gangrene, and testicular torsion increased.

CONCLUSION

During the COVID-19 pandemic, a significant decrease was observed in non-COVID patients' admissions to the emergency and urology department, and in urologic surgeries.