Young women more likely to have negative urodynamics experience

Research from the USA suggests that while urodynamic testing is well-tolerated by women on the whole, patients who are younger, or have anxiety or depression may have more negative experiences of the procedure than other patients.

Additionally, patients with diagnoses of overactive bladder (OAB) or painful bladder syndrome (PBS) were more likely to report or recall pain due to the test than those without the conditions.

The researchers, from the Good Samaritan Hospital in Cincinnati, Ohio, say that the findings could help with the future counseling of patients.

Jennifer Yeung and colleagues studied 100 women who, after undergoing urodynamic testing, were asked to complete visual analog scales (VAS) rating their pain, embarrassment, anxiety, and satisfaction, before, during, and after the procedure. A week later, the women completed the same VAS ratings again, and responded to questions about symptoms and their willingness to repeat the procedure.

On the whole, women had acceptable experiences of the procedure, with a median score of 1.50 for pain during the test, on the 10-point VAS. Women rated their embarrassment during the test at 0.40 and anxiety at 1.60, 1.80, and 0.30, before, during, and immediately after, respectively. Additionally, women highly scored their satisfaction with the test at 9.5 overall.

A week after the test, women’s recall of pain and embarrassment during the procedure was slightly decreased, but this reduction did not reach statistical significance.

On further analysis, the researchers found that a diagnosis of OAB was significantly associated with greater pain during, and immediately after, the procedure than no diagnosis. And, a diagnosis of PBS was associated with significantly greater recall of pain the week after the test. Women who reported higher pain levels on a normal day also had greater increases in pain during the test, recalled greater embarrassment, and had lower satisfaction with the procedure than women with lower levels of daily pain.

Patients with a history of depression reported greater embarrassment at both time points than women without depression while patients with a history of anxiety reported greater embarrassment on recall. Additionally, younger age correlated with higher pain at both time points.

“A possible reason for this phenomenon could be more experience with health care testing or catheterization in the more mature subjects,” suggest Yeung et al.

“This information is useful in preparing women for their urodynamics procedure,” comment the researchers in the International Urogynecology Journal.

“Future studies to assess those factors that influence a younger patient’s negative experience with urodynamics would assist in better understanding this phenomenon.”

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