Urethral Stricture as seen in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Background: Urethral stricture is a common condition in both developed and developing countries, but the pattern of causes in the two situations are different. Urethral Stricture can occur in female as well as in male, but it is far commoner in the male urethra for various anatomical and pathological reasons.Methods: This was a ten months, hospital based descriptive, prospective study which involved all patients presenting at urology clinics confirmed to have urethral stricture. Patient characteristics were analyzed using SPSS version 18.Results: A total of 111 patients with urethral strictures were recruited into the study. All were male aged 10 - 97years with a mean of 52.7 years. Trauma was the commonest cause of urethral stricture among our patients in age group below 45 years 64.2% (p=0.000). Urethral catheterization was the commonest cause of urethral stricture among patients in age group above 45 years 80.9% [p= 0.026]. Most strictures occurred in the bulbar urethra which accounted for 63.2% of all strictures.Conclusion: Urethral stricture disease remains a predominantly male disease covering a wide age range of patients with social implications. Urethral catheterization and road traffic accident related trauma are the commonest causes of urethral strictures cutting across all the age groups. The bulbar urethra remains the commonest site of urethral stricture