Overactive Bladder Found in One Fifth of Type 2 Diabetics

Japanese researchers found that more than one fifth of patients with type 2 diabetes receiving care at a dedicated diabetes center have overactive bladder (OAB), and that the prevalence was more than twice as great among patients older than 50 and those who had diabetes for more than 10 years, according to data presented at the American Urological Association 2011 annual meeting.

Yao-Chi Chuang, MD, of Chang Gung Memorial Hospital,Kaohsiung, Taiwan, and colleagues evaluated the prevalence of OAB with and without incontinence (wet and dry, respectively) and associated risk factors for OAB wet in 1,359 type 2 diabetics. On the basis of questionnaires filled out by the patients, the researchers determined subjects’ OAB symptom score ranging from 0-15, with increasing scores indicating an increasing severity of symptoms.

Of the 1,359 patients, 22.5% had OAB, with 11.7% reporting OAB dry and 10.8% reporting OAB wet, the researchers reported in a poster presentation. The prevalence of OAB was higher in male than female patients (24.8% vs. 20.1%). Patients older than 50 and those who had diabetes for more than 10 years had a 2.4 times and 4.2 times greater prevalence of OAB and OAB wet, respectively.

“These findings can help guide collaboration between urologists and diabetologists to work toward developing screening for and early treatment of urologic complications in higher risk patients,” the authors concluded.