Hospital admissions for renal colic in Malta: Economic patterns

Background: Renal colic is a significant phenomenon in secondary medical care. Aims: This study aims to establish if the rate of admission for renal colic differs between districts with differing average annual household income. Method: 519 patients were admitted for renal colic at St Luke's hospital Malta between Jan 2001 and Dec 2004, 485 patients were considered after exclusions. The residential locality of each patient was recorded; data on demographics and average earnings was obtained from the Maltese National Office of Statistics. Results: The overall annual incidence was 32.56 per 10000 persons. Analysis revealed a significant linear relationship between income and incidence of admission for renal colic (P=0.010), with areas of higher income having significantly lower rates of admission, although proper age matching was impossible due to the limited data available. Many confounding factors exist with this method of observation. Better investigation is needed for a definitive explanation.