Beyond the lower urinary tract: the association of urologic and sexual symptoms with common illnesses.
OBJECTIVE
In addition to being prevalent and bothersome, urologic and sexual symptoms may be related to chronic medical illnesses. We investigate the relationship between ten urologic and sexual symptoms and four major illnesses (type II diabetes, cardiac disease, hypertension, and depression).


METHODS
We analyzed data from the Boston Area Community Health (BACH) survey, a community-based epidemiologic study of urologic symptoms and risk factors. BACH used a two-stage stratified cluster sampling design to recruit 5,506 adults aged 30-79 (2301 men, 3205 women; 1770 black, 1877 Hispanic, and 1859 white).


RESULTS
In bivariate analyses, most urologic and sexual symptoms were associated with type II diabetes, cardiac disease, hypertension, and depression. However, in multivariate models adjusting for all four illnesses, gender, race/ethnicity, age, alcohol intake, smoking, physical activity, and body mass index there were fewer significant associations. We found that all urologic symptoms were significantly related to at least one illness, with depression increasing the odds of all urologic and sexual symptoms studied.


CONCLUSIONS
Urinary tract specialists should consider factors outside the urinary tract that may be contributing to urologic symptoms. It remains unknown whether treatment of medical and psychological illnesses can result in meaningful improvement in urologic symptoms, or conversely, whether urinary tract symptoms can provide valuable insight into an individual's overall health status.
Fitzgerald
Mary P
MP
Loyola University Medical Center, Maywood, IL, USA.
Link
Carol L
CL
Litman
Heather J
HJ
Travison
Thomas G
TG
McKinlay
John B
JB
D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D000368:Aged; D001900:Boston / Q000453:epidemiology; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D003863:Depression / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011788:Quality of Life; D012307:Risk Factors; D012735:Sexual Dysfunction, Physiological / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014555:Urination Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D044465:White People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data