Assessment of Five-Year Trends in Ultrasonography Utilization by Age Group and Sex: A Retrospective Audit at a Tertiary Care Hospital

Abstract

Background: Ultrasonography is central to routine clinical decision-making in tertiary hospitals because it is low-cost, portable, repeatable, and free of ionizing radiation, while offering real-time diagnostic information across high-volume pathways such as abdominal, hepatobiliary, urinary, obstetric, and superficial organ assessment. The study aimed to quantify five-year trends in ultrasonography utilization (2021–2025) at a tertiary care hospital by measuring annual scan volume and year-to-year change, and to describe the distribution of examination types stratified by patient sex and age group.

Methods: A retrospective audit was performed in the Radiology and Imaging Department of a tertiary care hospital, including all ultrasonography examinations from January 2021 to December 2025. Data were extracted from departmental registers and the radiology information system, and records with missing age, sex, or year, duplicates, or non-diagnostic entries were excluded. Variables collected were year, sex, age group, and scan type, with age categorized into seven groups and scan types classified into predefined categories. Outcomes included annual scan volume with year-to-year change, and the distribution of scan types by year, sex, and age group, summarized using frequencies and percentages.

Results: A total of 4,952 ultrasonography examinations were performed from 2021 to 2025, increasing from 326 scans in 2021 to 1,507 in 2025, with the largest rise in 2022 (136.8%) and slower growth thereafter. Whole-abdomen scans were most common (72.3%), followed by PVR (10.6%) and pregnancy scans (5.6%), with a largely stable case mix over time. Females accounted for 63.7% of scans, and utilization was highest in ages 25–34 years (27.9%) and 0–14 years (21.6%), with scan types clustering by sex and age, including male predominance for PVR and female predominance for pregnancy, thyroid, and breast examinations.

Conclusion: Ultrasonography utilization increased substantially over five years, with whole-abdomen examinations consistently dominating and stable female predominance. Utilization was highest in younger age groups, and scan types showed clear age and sex clustering, highlighting the need for targeted capacity planning, staffing, and protocol standardization for high-volume services