Meteo-U-rology: Climate impact on urological emergencies

Introduction and objectives. - The aim of this study was to analyze the weather influence on the onset of renal colic (RC), acute urinary retention (AUR) and testicular torsion (TT). Materials and methods. - We correlated the daily number of RC, AUR and TT cases admitted to our urology department and weather conditions between 2005 and 2009 on day-to-day basis. Eight hundred and seventy-six RC, 453 AUR and 5011 were analyzed. Information on temperature, atmospheric pressure, relative humidity, vapor pressure, wind force, evapotranspiration and sunshine level were collected from the national meteorological office (Meteo-France) in Besancon, France. We performed a univariate and a multivariate Stepwise method in linear regression using Akaike Information Criterion. Results. - We reported a statistically significant increased risk of renal colic at higher vapor pressure. Likewise, temperature seemed to be a risk factor for occurrence of renal colics. We determined an increased daily rate when maximal daily temperature rises above 20 Celsius degrees (P = 0.05). Furthermore, we observed a positive link between mean (P = 0.05) and minimal (P = 0.08) daily temperature and urolithiasis. Contrarywise AUR was more frequent when the mean temperature falls below zero Celsius degree. We also demonstrated a non-significant influence of temperature on TT; with 3 fold higher events during cold period. Much more mystic, we noted a higher AUR rate on new moon days, and fewer renal colic on full moon. Conclusions. - Further investigations are necessary to understand the mechanisms underlying the relationship between urologic diseases and climate. But our findings could help us justify healthy living messages. (C) 2014 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.