Urinary Urgency Tied to Nocturia in Interstitial Cystitis
FRIDAY, June 10 (HealthDay News) — In patients with interstitial cystitis/painful bladder syndrome (IC/PBS), urinary urgency is correlated with the presence and severity of nocturia, and bladder pain is correlated with the severity of nocturia, according to a study published in the June issue of Urology.
John W. Warren, M.D., from the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore, and colleagues examined the association between the presence and severity of nocturia and the severity of pain and urgency in patients with IC/PBS. Patients were also asked about urgency and their reasons for awakening at night. A total of 312 incident cases were recruited nationally through physician organizations and patient support groups. Women who had pelvic or bladder pain for 12 months or less and exhibited two or more of the symptoms of urgency, frequency, and nocturia were included in the study.
The investigators found that urgency was associated with both the presence and severity of nocturia, and bladder pain was associated with the severity of nocturia. Based on patients’ responses to queries regarding urgency and their reasons for awakening, bladder pain was purported to play a two-fold role: It may be directly responsible for awakening a large minority of patients and may indirectly generate the sensation of urgency in the majority of patients.
"These findings are consistent with urinary urgency and bladder pain each being in the causal pathway leading to nocturia in patients with IC/PBS," the authors write.
