INCIDENCE OF URINARY CALCULI AMONG PATIENTS IN GENERAL HOSPITALS, 1948 to 1952

Abstract

• A questionnaire enlisting the cooperation of medical record librarians was used to determine the incidence of urinary calculi among patients admitted to or discharged from general hospitals. For the country as a whole it was estimated that 9.47 persons per 10,000 population were admitted with this diagnosis during the year 1952. Evidence of geographical variation was obtained, with rates of 19.25 and 18.42 from South Carolina and Georgia at one extreme and 5.81 and 4.31 from Wyoming and Missouri at the other. There were also significant differences within states, the incidence in the northern part of Alabama, for instance, being less than half that in the southern part. The incidence of calculous disease was lower among Negroes than among whites and lower among children than adults.