Emergency Department Visits and Inpatient Admissions Associated with Priapism among Males with Sickle Cell Disease in the United States, 2006–2010

People with sickle cell disease (SCD) suffer from numerous acute complications that can result in multiple hospitalizations and emergency department (ED) and outpatient care visits. Priapism, a prolonged unwanted erection of the penis not due to sexual stimulation, is a serious complication among males with SCD. Variations in estimates of prevalence make it difficult to accurately assess the burden of this complication of SCD. We analyzed data from the Nationwide Emergency Department Sample (NEDS), a product of the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project, for the years 2006 through 2010 to measure the numbers of ED visits and to examine patterns of subsequent hospitalizations associated with priapism among male patients with SCD. We find that among ED visits associated with males with SCD, those prompted by priapism are more likely to result in hospitalization than are those associated with pain.