INTRODUCTION: White matter hyperintensities (WHM) in cerebral MRI-scan have been suspected to be involved in the pathogenesis for geriatric LUTS.
Aim of this study was to investigate this association in a geriatric cohort.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: The VITA-study is a prospective, population-based study initiated 2000/2001. All inhabitants of a well-defined area in Vienna aged 75 years were recruited and underwent detailed regular visits including cerebral MRI-scans. Subcortical and periventricular WMHs were classified according to the Fazekas-classification. In 2010, all subjects alive were contacted to complete the Bristol LUTS questionnaire.
RESULTS: Two hundred seventeen participants (75 men, 142 women), all 85 years old, entered this analysis. Urgency, frequency, and nocturia was present in 39 (50.7%), 53 (52%), and 55 (73.3%) men and 79 (55.6%), 81 (78.2%), and 68 (47.9%) women, respectively. OAB symptoms were seen in 55% of women and 50% of men. At baseline, WMH were present in 68.2% and this percentage increased to 85.7% at the most recent follow-up. Several symptoms were more prevalent in participants without WMH as compared to those with WMH, (urgency: 71% vs. 53%, P = 0.06, nocturia: 77% vs. 53%, P = 0.01: OAB-symptoms: 71% vs. 51%, P = 0.05. Only frequency was more prevalent in participants with WMH (77% vs. 68%, P = 0.27). In general, sub-categorization into periventricular and subcortical WMH confirmed these data. Furthermore the amount of WMH-burden did not correlate to LUT dysfunction.
CONCLUSION: This study failed to demonstrate a clear association between several aspects of LUTS and WMH in a rather healthy, population-based 85-year-old cohort.
Written by:
Wehrberger C, Jungwirth S, Fischer P, Tragl KH, Krampla W, Marlies W, Madersbacher S. Are you the author?
Department of Urology and Andrology, Donauspital, Vienna, Austria.
Reference: Neurourol Urodyn. 2013 Jun 14. Epub ahead of print.
doi: 10.1002/nau.22419
PubMed Abstract
PMID: 23775725
