Is abuse causally related to urologic symptoms? Results from the Boston Area Community Health (BACH) Survey.
OBJECTIVE
We investigated (1) whether sexual, physical, or emotional abuse experienced either as a child or as an adolescent/adult is associated with symptoms of urinary frequency, urgency, and nocturia, and (2) the extent to which the observed association between abuse and urologic symptoms may be causal.


METHODS
Analyses are based on data from the Boston Area Community Health (BACH) survey, a community-based epidemiologic study of many different urologic symptoms and risk factors. BACH used a multistage stratified cluster sample to recruit 5506 adults, aged 30-79 yr (2301 men, 3205 women; 1770 black [African American], 1877 Hispanic, and 1859 white respondents).


RESULTS
The symptoms considered are common, with 33% of BACH respondents reporting urinary frequency, 12% reporting urgency, and 28% reporting nocturia. All three symptoms are positively associated with childhood and adolescent/adult sexual, physical, and emotional abuse (p<0.05), with abuse significantly increasing the odds of urinary frequency by a factor ranging from 1.6 to 1.9, the odds of urgency by a factor from 2.0 to 2.3, and the odds of nocturia by a factor from 1.3 to 1.5.


CONCLUSIONS
Our analyses extend previous work. First, we show a strong association between abuse and urinary frequency, urgency, and nocturia in a community-based random sample. Second, we move beyond discussion of statistical association and find considerable evidence to suggest that the relationship between abuse and these symptoms may be causal.
Link
Carol L
CL
New England Research Institutes, Watertown, MA 02472, USA. clink@neriscience.com
Lutfey
Karen E
KE
Steers
William D
WD
McKinlay
John B
JB
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D044383:Black People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D001900:Boston / Q000453:epidemiology; D015984:Causality; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D002648:Child; D017579:Domestic Violence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011788:Quality of Life; D012307:Risk Factors; D012742:Sex Offenses / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014555:Urination Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D044465:White People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D001741:Black or African American