• Mariana Madanelo, Carlos Ferreira, Diogo Nunes-Carneiro, André Pinto, Maria Alexandra Rocha, Jorge Correia, Bernardo Teixeira, Gonçalo Mendes, Catarina Tavares, Sofia Mesquita, and Avelino Fraga.
• Department of Urology, Centro Hospitalar Universitário do Porto, Porto, Portugal.
• BJU Int. 2020 Aug 1; 126 (2): 256-258.

ObjectivesTo compare the number of patients attending the Urology Emergency Department (ED) of the Centro Hospitalar Universitário do Porto (CHUP), as well as their demographic characteristics, the reasons for admission, the clinical severity under the Manchester triage system (MTS), and the need for emergency surgery or hospitalisation, during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and the equivalent period in 2019.Patients And MethodsData were collected from patients attending the Urology ED of the CHUP over 3 weeks, from 11 March to 1 April 2020, and from the same period in the previous year (from 11 March to 1 April 2019).ResultsDuring the pandemic, 46.4% fewer patients visited our urological ED (122 vs 263). There was no significant difference in the mean age or the number of old patients (aged ≥65 years) between the two periods. However, significantly fewer female patients sought emergency urological services during the COVID-19 pandemic period (32.7% vs 14.8%, P < 0.05). No significant differences were noted between different clinical severity groups under the MTS. In 2019, significantly less patients required hospitalisation. The most common reasons for admission, during both periods, were haematuria, renal colic and urinary tract infections. The authors recognise that the study has several limitations, namely, those inherent to its retrospective nature.ConclusionCOVID-19 significantly influenced people's urological care-seeking behaviour. Understanding the present situation is helpful for predicting future urological needs. Based on the results of this study, we have reason to speculate that people's requirements for urological services might grow explosively in the post-COVID-19 period. There should be further studies about the real state of long-term urological services and the consequences that this pandemic may have in terms of morbimortality not directly related to the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2.© 2020 The Authors BJU International © 2020 BJU International Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

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