Overactive bladder leads to underactive patients

Researchers in the USA have shown that patients with overactive bladder (OAB) experience significant impairment to their physical activity levels.

“In this large, ethnically diverse study of men and women, those with OAB were significantly less likely to fulfill recommended levels of physical activity according to 2 contemporary public health guidelines,” say authors Karin Coyne (United BioSource Corporation, Bethesda, Maryland) and colleagues.

“Notably, patients with OAB with perceived frequency, urgency, SUI [stress urinary incontinence], and UUI [urge urinary incontinence] (only in women) were significant predictors of physical activity limitation,” they add.

The study included questionnaire results from 818 men and 1505 women with OAB, and 1857 men and 1615 women with no or minimal symptoms.

Forty-three percent of men with OAB reported taking part in moderate physical activities in their leisure time, significantly less than the 53% of men with no or minimal symptoms. Meanwhile, reports of vigorous physical activity were 31% and 44% in the respective groups.

The researchers observed similar findings in women, with rates of moderate activity at 41% among those with OAB, compared with 52% in those with no or minimal symptoms, while vigorous activity was reported by 22% and 34%, respectively.

And, both men and women with OAB were significantly less likely to meet federal recommendations for activity levels, based on the 2008 Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans and the Healthy People 2010 guidelines. Among men with OAB, 61% and 41% reported sufficient activity to meet the guidelines, respectively, compared with a respective 68% and 54% of those with no or minimal symptoms. While in women with OAB, 50% and 35% met the 2008 and 2010 criteria, respectively, compared with 58% and 45% of those with no or minimal symptoms.

The team also identified several factors that predicted limitation of physical activity in those with OAB, with advancing age, urgency, SUI, and perceived daytime urinary frequency being common to men and women. In men, depression, mobility limitations, and a history of recurrent urinary tract infections were also associated with limitation, while in women, being African American versus White, having UUI, and increasing number of childbirths were additional limiting factors.

The authors say that theirs is the first study to directly compare physical activity among those with OAB and those without, and adds to a growing body of evidence indicating poor physical health status among those with the condition.

“More research is needed to further evaluate the relationship of OAB with physical activity and health status,” Coyne and colleagues write in Urology.

“Longitudinal studies that assess physical activity based on contemporary guidelines and include assessments of comorbid conditions would offer the most useful information,” they conclude.

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