OBJECTIVES: This paper aimed to describe the complication rates of patients who underwent hypospadia repair according to age, type of hypospadia and stage of repair. It likewise aimed to determine the association of age, type and stage of repair on the occurrence of complications.

METHODS: The study utilized a retrospective cohort design. The study population included pediatric patients who underwent repair of hypospadia at 6 tertiary hospitals (University of Santo Tomas Hospital, Chinese General Hospital, Philippine Children's Medical Center, Hospital of Infant Jesus, Cardinal Santos Medical Center and St. Luke's Medical Center) done by a single surgeon from March 1999 to July 2004. Subjects were classified into three groups by age: Group A (< 2 years), Group B (2-5 years) and Group C (> 5 years). The age, type of repair, stage of repair, and occurrence of complications were obtained from patient's records and were processed using Epi Info v.6. Proportions of subjects in terms of age, type of hypospadia and stage of repair were tabulated. Univariate analysis using Maentel-Haenzel chi-square test was used to determine significant associations between age, type of hypospadia and stage of repair versus occurrence of complications. Significance level was set at a = 0.05. Relative risks or risks ratios (RR) were derived, with their corresponding 95 percent confidence intervals.

RESULTS: A total of 286 subjects who underwent repair of hypospadia in 6 tertiary hospitals from March 1999 to July 2004 were included in the study. Thirty eight percent (38.5 percent) of subjects were below 2 years old and 39.2 percent were subjects more than five years old, while 22.4 percent were between 2 to 5 years old. For the type of hypospadia, the most common was proximal (47.9 percent). Most of the subjects (92.7 percent) underwent first stage repair. The overall complication rate was 15 percent (n=43). The highest complication rate was observed in patients > 5 years old (20.5 percent). Subjects with mid-penile hypospadias had the highest complication rate (25.37 percent). Cross-tabulations showed that subjects more than 5 years old had higher rate of complications (p=0.046). Among patients who underwent first stage repair, the mid-penile type had the highest rate of complications (25.76 percent) (p=0.0004). Most of the subjects who underwent second stage repair were of the proximal type (71.42 percent). Univariate analysis showed that it was only in proximal hypospadias that subjects more than five years old had significantly higher rate of complications (RR=3.21, 95 percent CI=1.09-9.42).