Roles of Urology as Assessed by an Analysis of Inpatients Referred to Urology 621 FIG. 3. Distribution of departments making referrals to the department of urology over 3 years. IM, internal medicine; OS, orthopedics; NS, neurosurgery; GS, general surgery; OBGY, obstetrics and gynecology; NE, department of neurology; CS, thoracic and cardiovascular surgery; NP, neuropsychiatry; RE, rehabilitation medicine; PS, plastic surgery; ENT, otorhino- laryngology; PD, pediatrics; Others, ophthalmology, dentistry, dermatology, emergency medicine, and anesthesiology. 3. Distribution of referring departments in cooperative be- havior Chosun University Hospital has 24 departments in total. Referrals were made for collaborative practice from 17 de- partments except family medicine, occupational and envi- ronmental medicine, radiation oncology, pathology, radiol- ogy, laboratory medicine, and nuclear medicine. Of the to- tal 3,261 cases, there were 1,111 internal medicine cases (34.06%), 549 orthopedic surgery cases (16.83%), 311 neu- rosurgery cases (9.53%), 268 general surgery cases (8.21%), 263 obstetrics and gynecology cases (8.06%), 207 neurology cases (6.34%), 143 thoracic and cardiovascular surgery cases (4.38%), 96 neuropsychiatry cases (2.94%), 92 rehabilitation medicine cases (2.82%), 59 plastic sur- gery cases (1.80%), 43 otorhinolaryngology cases (1.31%), 39 pediatrics cases (1.19%), 22 ophthalmology cases (0.67%), 20 dentistry cases (0.61%), 19 dermatology cases (0.58%), 12 emergency cases (0.36%), and 7 anesthesiology cases (0.21%) (Fig. 3). The rate of referral according to the number of all inpatients in each department for 3 years was as follows: internal medicine, 5.70%; general surgery, 4.50%; obstetrics and gynecology, 7.53%; pediatrics, 0.64%; orthopedic surgery, 8.74%; neurosurgery, 6.14%; neurology, 4.67%; thoracic and cardiovascular surgery, 12.50%; plastic surgery, 3.80%; rehabilitation medicine, 20.74%; otorhinolaryngology, 1.42%; neuropsychiatry, 8.82%; ophthalmology, 0.81%; anesthesiology, 0.71%; emergency, 1.74%; dermatology, 4.65%; and dentistry, 3.59%. When they were analyzed by year for the 3-year peri- od, the largest portion of the patients were from internal medicine and orthopedic surgery, and the next depart- ments showing the highest frequency were in the order of neurosurgery, general surgery, obstetrics and gynecology, and neurology. 4. Distribution of disease groups In the distribution of disease groups, LUTS occupied the FIG. 4. Distribution of diseases referred to the department of urology over 3 years. LUTS, lower urinary tract symptoms. FIG. 5. Distribution of diseases related to LUTS referred to the department of urology over 3 years. LUTS, lower urinary tract symptoms; OAB, overactive bladder; BPH, benign prostatic hypertrophy. highest percentage of 3,261 cases, composed of 1,998 LUTS cases (61.26%), 541 infection cases (16.59%), 311 tumor cases (9.53%), 126 calculus cases (3.86%), 73 trauma cases (2.23%), 18 pediatrics cases (0.55%), 9 andrology cases (0.27%), and 185 other cases (5.67%) (Fig. 4). When sub- classifying the LUTS group, there were 644 benign pro- static hypertrophy cases (32.23%), 556 neurogenic bladder cases (27.82%), 492 urinary retention cases (24.62%), 197 urinary incontinence cases (9.85%), and 109 overactive bladder cases (5.45%) out of 1998 cases in total (Fig. 5). DISCUSSION Because of westernized diets and changes in lifestyle, chronic diseases such as diabetes and hypertension have increased, and there are reports that various diseases in internal medicine are related to urologic diseases. Thus, many patients with urologic problems have problems that are addressed in other departments as well. Considering the characteristics of the inpatients, many patients with chronic diseases show acute aggravation of the chronic dis- ease or complications because of the aggravation. Such a trend is more conspicuous among aged patients, and more medication administration and operational treatments are being administered among inpatients. It is possible that there is a more obvious tendency toward these features of the inpatients in upper-scale general hospitals. In this study, concerning the sex and age distribution of the patients, there were more male patients than female Korean J Urol 2012;53:619-624