Characteristics of presentations to the emergency department by participants of the study
| Characteristic | Uncircumcised boys, visibility of urethral meatus, no. (%) | Circumcised boys, no. (%) n = 84 | p value* | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Partially or nonvisible n = 269 | Completely visible n = 40 | Partially/nonvisible | Circumcised | ||
| Triage category† | |||||
| 2 (< 15 min) | 88 (32.7) | 4 (10.0) | 26 (31.0) | 0.003 | 0.01 |
| 3 (15–30 min) | 108 (40.1) | 17 (42.5) | 38 (45.2) | 0.8 | 0.8 |
| 4 (30–60 min) | 71 (26.4) | 18 (45.0) | 19 (22.6) | 0.02 | 0.01 |
| 5 (60–120 min) | 2 (0.7) | 1 (2.5) | 1 (1.2) | 0.3 | 0.6 |
| Length of stay, h‡ | |||||
| < 4 | 63 (23.4) | 12 (30.0) | 27 (32.1) | 0.4 | 0.8 |
| 4–8 | 147 (54.6) | 19 (47.5) | 37 (44.0) | 0.4 | 0.7 |
| ≥ 8 | 59 (21.9) | 9 (22.5) | 20 (23.8) | 0.9 | 0.9 |
| Time of presentation‡ | |||||
| Day (0800–1700) | 178 (66.2) | 30 (75.0) | 53 (63.1) | 0.3 | 0.2 |
| Evening (1700–0000) | 76 (28.3) | 9 (22.5) | 26 (31.0) | 0.5 | 0.3 |
| Night (0000–0800) | 15 (5.6) | 1 (2.5) | 5 (6.0) | 0.4 | 0.4 |
| Weekend | 30 (11.2) | 10 (25.0) | 14 (16.7) | 0.02 | 0.3 |
| Triage complaint§ | |||||
| Fever | 138 (51.3) | 18 (45.0) | 38 (45.2) | 0.5 | 0.9 |
| Urinary symptoms | 17 (6.3) | 5 (12.5) | 9 (10.7) | 0.2 | 0.8 |
| Viral syndrome | 25 (9.3) | 2 (5.0) | 10 (11.9) | 0.4 | 0.2 |
| Vomiting | 20 (7.4) | 4 (10.0) | 10 (11.9) | 0.6 | 0.7 |
| Vomiting and diarrhea | 22 (8.2) | 2 (5.0) | 4 (4.8) | 0.5 | 0.9 |
| Feeding difficulty/dehydration | 9 (3.3) | 0 (0.0) | 2 (2.4) | 0.2 | 0.3 |
| Irritability | 8 (3.0) | 0 (0.0) | 3 (3.6) | 0.3 | 0.2 |
| Referral for test | 2 (0.7) | 1 (2.5) | 1 (1.2) | 0.3 | 0.6 |
| Other | 28 (10.4) | 8 (20.0) | 7 (8.3) | 0.08 | 0.06 |
| Discharge diagnosis category¶ | |||||
| Fever without source | 39 (14.5) | 6 (15.0) | 16 (19.0) | 0.9 | 0.6 |
| Rule out sepsis | 37 (13.8) | 0 (0.0) | 9 (10.7) | 0.01 | 0.03 |
| Viral syndrome | 55 (20.4) | 10 (25.0) | 21 (25.0) | 0.5 | 1 |
| Genitourinary system | 46 (17.1) | 13 (32.5) | 6 (7.1) | 0.02 | < 0.001 |
| Respiratory system | 14 (5.2) | 2 (5.0) | 3 (3.6) | 0.9 | 0.7 |
| Gastrointestinal system | 54 (20.1) | 6 (15.0) | 21 (25.0) | 0.4 | 0.2 |
| Other | 24 (8.9) | 3 (7.5) | 8 (9.6) | 0.8 | 0.7 |
| Admitted | 80 (29.7) | 6 (15.0) | 18 (21.4) | 0.05 | 0.4 |
| Admitted with positive urine culture | 21 (7.8) | 5 (12.5) | 1 (1.2) | 0.3 | 0.006 |
↵* v. Completely visible meatus. χ2 test (Fisher exact test used when count was less than 5).
↵† As per the Canadian Triage and Acuity Scale. (30)
↵‡ Data on the time and day of presentation were collected from the emergency department database using the date and time the patients were seen for triage. Length of stay defined as time between presentation to triage and discharge from the emergency department.
↵§ Created from complaints recorded in the emergency department database. “Urinary symptoms” included dysuria, frequency, hematuria and penile complaints. “Viral syndrome” included upper and lower respiratory tract symptoms. “Referral for test” refers to patients sent to the emergency department by their community physician for urine collection via catheter. “Other” included rash, seizure, apnea and nonspecific complaints.
↵¶ Created by merging similar physician diagnoses recorded in emergency department: viral syndrome (upper respiratory tract infection, acute otitis media, croup), genitourinary system (urinary tract infection, dysuria, hematuria, urinary retention, balanitis), respiratory system (bronchiolitis, pneumonia, respiratory distress), gastrointestinal system (gastroenteritis, vomiting, abdominal pain, feeding problems, gastroesophageal reflux) and other (irritability, colic, apnea, apparent life-threatening event, febrile seizure, rash).