Lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) are common among adolescent girls. Physical activity (PA) has been implicated as both a risk (high-impact PA) and protective factor (low-impact, moderate to vigorous intensity PA) for LUTS in adult women, but its role in adolescent girls is unclear. This study investigated the prospective association between physical activity and LUTS risk in adolescent girls.
The sample comprised 3,484 female participants in the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children. Multivariate logistic regression models were used to examine daily minutes of moderate to vigorous PA (MVPA) at ages 11 and 15 years in relation to LUTS at ages 14 and 19 respectively. MVPA was assessed by 7-day accelerometer data. LUTS were assessed by questionnaire. MVPA were analyzed as continuous (minutes/day) and categorical variables (<10th percentile, 10-89th percentile, ≥90th percentile).
Prevalence of LUTS ranged from 2.0% for bedwetting to 9.5% for nocturia at age 14 and from 2.0% for straining to urinate to 35.5% for interrupted urine flow at age 19. Physical activity was not associated with LUTS at either time-point.
Given the prevalence of LUTS in female adolescent populations, although this study did not find an association with accelerometer-measured MVPA, other aspects of PA that may serve as risk or protective factors deserve investigation.
International urogynecology journal. 2023 Sep 16 [Epub ahead of print]
Colleen M Fitzgerald, Shayna D Cunningham, Amanda Berry, Sheila Gahagan, Carol Joinson, Sarah Lindberg, Diane K Newman, Kathryn H Schmitz, Ariana L Smith, Siobhan Sutcliffe, David A Shoham, Prevention of Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms (PLUS) Research Consortium
Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Urology, Loyola University Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA., Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Connecticut School of Medicine, 263 Farmington Ave, Farmington, CT, 06030, USA. ., Division of Urology, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, USA., Department of Pediatrics, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA., Centre for Academic Child Health, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK., Division of Biostatistics, University of Minnesota School of Public Health, Minneapolis, MN, USA., Division of Urology, Department of Surgery, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA., Division of Hematology/Oncology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA, USA., Division of Urology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania Health System, Philadelphia, PA, USA., Division of Public Health Sciences, Department of Surgery, and the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA., Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, College of Public Health, East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, TN, USA.