Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2009 Feb;181(2):694-700.
doi: 10.1016/j.juro.2008.10.039. Epub 2008 Dec 16.

Association of urological symptoms and chronic illness in men and women: contributions of symptom severity and duration--results from the BACH Survey

Varant Kupelian  1 , Raymond C Rosen, Carol L Link, Kevin T McVary, Lalitha Padmanabhan Aiyer, Patrick Mollon, Steven A Kaplan, John B McKinlay
Affiliations

Association of urological symptoms and chronic illness in men and women: contributions of symptom severity and duration--results from the BACH Survey

Varant Kupelian et al. J Urol. 2009 Feb.

Abstract

Purpose: We investigated the association between lower urinary tract symptoms and chronic illness, such as heart disease, diabetes, hypertension and depression, in men and women. In addition, we determined whether a dose-response relationship exists in the association between the severity and duration of urological symptoms and major chronic illnesses.

Materials and methods: The Boston Area Community Health Survey used a multistage stratified design to recruit a random sample of 5,503 adults who were 30 to 79 years old. Urological symptoms in the American Urological Association symptom index were included in analysis.

Results: Statistically significant associations that were consistent by gender were observed between depression and all urological symptoms. Nocturia of any degree of severity or duration was associated with heart disease in men and with diabetes in women. In men a dose-response relationship was observed for the association of symptom severity and/or the duration of urinary intermittency and frequency with heart disease, and for the association of urinary urgency with diabetes. In women a history of heart disease was associated with a weak stream and straining, while a history of hypertension was associated with urgency and a weak stream.

Conclusions: Results indicate a dose-response relationship in the association of the severity and duration of urological symptoms with major chronic illnesses. An association between urinary symptoms and depression was observed in men and women. In contrast, the association between lower urinary tract symptoms and heart disease, diabetes or hypertension varied by gender, suggesting different mechanisms of association in men and women.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Symptom severity is associated with duration of symptoms among both men and women. The proportion reporting symptom duration of ≥1 year is significantly higher among those with severe symptoms compared to those with mild symptoms (all χ2 p-values <0.05 for comparison by symptom severity).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Boyle P, Robertson C, Mazzetta C, Keech M, Hobbs FD, Fourcade R, et al. The prevalence of lower urinary tract symptoms in men and women in four centres. The UrEpik study. BJU Int. 2003;92:409. - PubMed
    1. Burke JP, Jacobson DJ, McGree ME, Roberts RO, Girman CJ, Lieber MM, et al. Diabetes and benign prostatic hyperplasia progression in Olmsted County, Minnesota. Urology. 2006;67:22. - PubMed
    1. Fitzgerald MP, Link CL, Litman HJ, Travison TG, McKinlay JB. Beyond the lower urinary tract: the association of urologic and sexual symptoms with common illnesses. Eur Urol. 2007;52:407. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Joseph MA, Harlow SD, Wei JT, Sarma AV, Dunn RL, Taylor JM, et al. Risk factors for lower urinary tract symptoms in a population-based sample of African-American men. Am J Epidemiol. 2003;157:906. - PubMed
    1. Rohrmann S, Smit E, Giovannucci E, Platz EA. Association between markers of the metabolic syndrome and lower urinary tract symptoms in the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III). Int J Obes (Lond) 2005;29:310. - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms