By Sandra Ripley Distelhorst
SAN FRANCISCO -- October 2, 2009 -- There is a significant increased prevalence of lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) in women with diabetes or prediabetes compared with women with normal glucose levels, researchers reported here at the 39th Annual Meeting of the International Continence Society (ICS).
"Physicians need to know that their patients with abnormal glucose levels are at higher risk and should be screened for lower urinary tract symptoms," said Kier Van Remoortere, MD, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California, on October 1.
This study was part of Diabetes Reproductive Risk Factor for Incontinence Study at Kaiser (RRISK), a population-based cross-sectional study of 2,270 female Kaiser Permanente Northern California members that included 452 women with diabetes, 427 women with prediabetes, and 1,391 women with normal glucose levels as defined by the 2008 American Diabetes Association criteria.
The mean age of participants was 55.5 year (range 40 to 78 years), and represented an ethnically diverse population: 20% African American, 18% Asian, 17% Latina, and 44% White.
Data on LUTS was collected using an interviewer-administered questionnaire that included nocturia (>2 episodes), increased daytime frequency (>9 episodes), severe urgency (surge or pressure to urinate >6 on a 0-9 scale), and frequent urgency (daily or more frequent overwhelming urge to urinate).
Given the overall similarities in LUTS prevalence between women with diabetes and prediabetes, the 2 groups were combined for analysis.
The prevalence of nocturia was 17.5% in women with diabetes or prediabetes compared with 13.4% in women with normal glucose (P = .008).
The prevalence of severe urgency was 14.4% in women with diabetes or prediabetes compared to 11.1% in women with normal glucose (P = 0.02), and the prevalence of frequent urgency was 14.7% in women with diabetes or prediabetes compared with 10.9% in women with normal glucose (P = .008).
The rate of "wet" overactive bladder (OAB) was 7.2% in women with diabetes or prediabetes compared with 5.0% in women with normal glucose (P = .03).
"We found a strikingly similar and very common prevalence of LUTS as well as OAB wet among women with prediabetes and diabetes that were significantly higher than women with normal glucose," said Dr. Van Remoortere. "This finding suggests that LUTS may be an early consequence of hyperglycaemia."
Physicians should be alert for LUTS and "wet" OAB, which are often unrecognised and therefore undertreated among women with prediabetes and diabetes, the study authors concluded.
[Presentation title: Affect of Diabetes on the Prevalence of Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms (LUTS) in Women. Abstract 68]
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