Objective: To determine whether a relation between urinary retention and temporal rhythms exists.
Design: Retrospective analysis of patients presenting over three years.
Setting: Urology departments in two hospitals.
Patients: 815 Patients presenting as emergency admissions with urinary retention and requiring immediate decompression of the bladder.
Main outcome measures: Calendar date of each admission to determine circadian, monthly, and seasonal periodicity.
Results: No association was found between urinary retention and circadian, monthly, or seasonal rhythms. A significantly higher (p less than 0.001) incidence of urinary retention was observed during the new moon in comparison with other phases of the lunar cycle.
Conclusions: Urinary retention is periodic in nature. This should be considered when the workload of a specialist urological department is organised.