Epidemiology of Patients with Urolithiasis in Burkina Faso: A FiveYear Retrospective Study

Objectives: To determine the epidemiological characteristics of patients treated for urinary lithiasis, as well as the clinical manifestations of this condition, at the Urology Department of CHU-YO.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed all patients managed for urinary stone disease at the Department of Urology and Andrology, Yalgado Ouédraogo University Hospital, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, from January 2018 through December 2022. Patients younger than 15 years, managed in the pediatric surgery department, were not eligible. Data were extracted from medical records using a structured questionnaire and analyzed with Epi Info. Quantitative variables are reported as mean and standard deviation, categorical variables as frequencies; age was compared between groups using the Mann-Whitney U test, significance set at p<0.05.

Results: Of 6,477 patients managed during the study period, 976 had urolithiasis, a hospital frequency of 15.1%, with a rising trend in case numbers. Mean age was 44.9±17.1 years; women presented significantly younger than men (41.8±15.5 versus 46.6±17.7 years, p<0.001). Pain was the presenting complaint in 86.8% of patients. Upper urinary tract stones predominated (81.0%, n=791); lower urinary tract stones were more frequent in men (odds ratio 4.57, 95% confidence interval 2.77 to 7.53). An obstructive uropathy or malformation coexisted in 12.1% of patients (n=118), and 30.1% (n=264) already had a complication at diagnosis.

Conclusions: Urolithiasis is a substantial and growing burden on urological services in Burkina Faso. Its profile, dominated by upper urinary tract, adult-onset disease, increasingly resembles that of high-income countries, and nearly one in three patients had a complication at diagnosis, underscoring the need for earlier detection and prevention.

Keywords: Burkina Faso, Epidemiology, Kidney Calculi, Retrospective Studies, Urolithiasis.