Etiology of priapism in the community: local factors can help guide prevention and savings
Article
Wayne, G, Weisberg, M, Monreal, A et al. (2020). Etiology of priapism in the community: local factors can help guide prevention and savings
. 5 10.21037/amj.2020.01.04
Wayne, G, Weisberg, M, Monreal, A et al. (2020). Etiology of priapism in the community: local factors can help guide prevention and savings
. 5 10.21037/amj.2020.01.04
Background: Current understanding of the etiology and epidemiology of priapism includes idiopathic causes, certain medications and hematologic dyscrasias. In this study, we compare existing literature to more common etiologies of priapism at our institution. We aimed to assess the similarities and differences between the etiologies of priapism at our institution compared to the current literature and determine if the cause of priapism could be community specific. Methods: Emergent cases of priapism presenting to the emergency department and consulting Urology between January 2014 and January 2015 were retrospectively reviewed. Statistical analysis included Chi-Squared and Fisher exact tests to compare categorical variables and t-tests as well as ANOVA to compare continuous variables across two or more groups. Analyses were performed using IBM SPSS version 24. The main outcome measure is the etiology of priapism at our institution which included hematologic dyscrasias, recreational drugs, prescribed drugs and idiopathic causes. Results: In 57 patients, 83 episodes of priapism were identified. The majority of patients were middle-aged and presented to the hospital after an average of 16 hours. Underlying etiologies proved markedly different from those predicted by previous studies and revealed an association with drug use (82%) as well as with HIV status (40%); moreover, we noted a high incidence of misused erectile dysfunction (ED) medications (56%). Conclusions: Our analysis provides an updated understanding of etiologies of priapism, which we hypothesize to be community specific. By contextualizing aggregate national statistics to local communities, researchers can better support prevention and decrease the costly utilization of emergency services.
