Renal colic and childbirth pain: female experience versus male perception

Abstract

Saiful Miah,1,2 Charlotte Gunner,3 Lucy Clayton,4 Suresh Venugopal,5 Nigel R Boucher,5 Bo Parys61Division of Surgery and Interventional Science, University College London, London, UK; 2Urology Department, Charing Cross Hospital, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, London, UK; 3Urology Department, Raigmore Hospital, Inverness, UK; 4Psychiatry Department, Highbury Hospital, Nottingham, UK; 5Urology Department, Chesterfield Royal Infirmary, Chesterfield, UK; 6Urology Department, Rotherham General Hospital, Rotherham, UKIntroductionRenal colic is often described by patients as the worst pain ever experienced.1 Pain during childbirth is also similarly described.2 To date, no study has comparatively evaluated the pain of renal colic to that of childbirth in female patients who have experienced both. Furthermore, no such study has evaluated the perception that men with renal colic have with respect to the pain experienced during childbirth. Here we present our cross-sectional observational study to address these questions. The primary objectives of our study were to answer these questions and highlight the severity of renal colic which is not always faced and treated aggressively.  

Keywords

• Renal colic
• childbirth
• pain