Long-term retrospective study on the incidence of urinary calculi in Wuwei, Gansu Province, China, 1995–2016

Abstract Objective: This long-term retrospective study explored the cause of increasing urinary calculi in Wuwei, China, from 1995 to 2016.Methods: Joinpoint v10.0, SPSS v22.0, and Excel 2019 were adopted to extract and analyze the medical records of patients with urolithiasis from 12 hospitals in Wuwei city. ArcGIS v10.8 was employed to establish a geographical distribution map and spatial and spatiotemporal analyses were applied to detect epidemic clusters using SaTScan v9.6.Results: Among the 5 497 patients with urolithiasis (mean age 43.07 ± 15.95 years), the majority were male (3 843, 69.9%), resulting in a sex ratio of 2.32:1. The incidence of urolithiasis in males and females showed an overall upward trend, with an annual percentage change (APC) of 15.1% (95% confidence interval (CI): 12.3%–18.1%) and 9.4% (95% CI: 16.4%–22.5%), respectively. From 1995 to 2016, the temporal and spatial distribution of urolithiasis showed an increasing trend in overall incidence and area, and we identified four clusters that allowed for the development and dynamic monitoring of urolithiasis in Wuwei. With the implementation of the new Rural Cooperative Medical Care System (NRCMS), improved insurance reimbursement and coverage for urolithiasis should help reduce the disease burden.Conclusions: In this study, the incidence of urolithiasis showed an upward trend between 1995 and 2016. Regular disease screening and early diagnosis for high-risk populations should be strengthened, which will help improve the prevention and treatment of urolithiasis. This study should provide a reference for local governments to initiate policies for the prevention and treatment of urolithiasis.