Parental awareness of testicular torsion amongst Irish parents

Testicular torsion is the most concerning underlying cause of acute scrotal pain that can lead to loss of the affected testicle. Whether a torted testicle can be salvaged surgically is directly affected by prompt presentation and diagnosis. This study aims to evaluate the awareness of testicular torsion amongst Irish parents and evaluate their response to a potential torsion.

An anonymous questionnaire was distributed to parents attending general paediatric clinics and an acute paediatric unit in two paediatric tertiary referral centres. SPSS statistical analysis software was used to perform multivariant analysis of the data.

There were 242 completed surveys. Fifty-six percent of responders had an awareness of torsion. In the event of an episode of severe testicular pain parents who were aware of testicular torsion were 4 times more likely to present immediately than those who had no awareness of torsion (OR 4.2, 95% CI 1.4-12.2, P < 0.01), and those who identified correctly the critical timeframe were 3 times more likely to present immediately than those who did not (OR 3.0, 95% CI 0.85-10.8, P = 0.08). Of those parents with boys only 11% had discussed what to do in the event of acute scrotal pain.

Education of this topic to the general Irish population and in particular to parents and young males is not established. Both knowledge of testicular torsion and awareness of the urgency in presentation are factors that determine parents promptness in seeking medical attention for their child in the setting of acute scrotal pain.