[Epidemiology of urinary calculi in the Marina Alta (Alicante) region].

An epidemiological study on urolithiasis was conducted in the Borough of Marina Alta from December 1989 to December 1990. The Health Care region of Marina Alta includes 11 health care areas, all centralized into one single Local Hospital offering service to an estimated population of 125,290 inhabitants, which experiences a remarkable increase over the summer months. During the study period 1,792 patients, 350 (20%) of which were lithiasis cases were seen in the Urology Unit. 2.80 per thousand of the studied population had urolithiasis-related signs. Incidence is higher in males than in females, as well as in patients with prior lithiasic diseases, surgery and urinary infections. Urinary infection was present in 20% of patients. Nine percent of patients had some type of associated urinary malformation. The most frequent mineral composition of the lithiasis was: Calcium oxalate (52%), uric acid (20%) and oxalate plus uric acid (9%).