A study of urinary fistulae in Sokoto, Nigeria.

A retrospective study was conducted on 361 women to evaluate the factors influencing the development of urinary fistula. Primipara women (69.8%) in the age group of 15-19 years (51.52%) with a height less than 150 cm (68.14%) were most frequently affected. Prolonged labour (82.79%), spontaneous delivery (57.92%) and delivery by forceps and craniotomy (31.12%) were the most common obstetric causes. Operation by native doctors and lymphogranuloma venereum were responsible for 3.32% and 0.55% cases respectively. Juxtra-urethral fistulae (54.84%) were the commonest type and the size of fistulae ranged from 0.5-1 cm in 65.92% of cases. Of the associated conditions pelvic abnormality was most frequently (45.8%) observed followed by urinary tract infection (26.2%), ammoniacal dermatitis of vulva (22.19%), nerve palsy (20.26%), involvement of rectum and anus (10.5%), gynatresia (9.97%), cystolithiasis (7.4%), secondary amenorrhoea (4.15%) and pregnancy (3.1%). Absence of formal education and presence of poverty were observed in 95% and 75% of cases respectively.