The reciprocal impacts of lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) on mental illness

Abstract

Lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) are defined as symptoms related to the lower urinary tract or referred from similarly innervated anatomy. No specific criteria are used to precisely define LUTS owing to its multiorgan involvement instead of organ-centric (urethra and bladder). In the past decade, the prevalence of LUTS dramatically increased owing to low health care seeking behaviors. Initially, patients with LUTS seemed to not actively look for medical opinions because of cultural or ethnic barriers. Raising awareness of the significance of medical opinions may contribute to increasing health care seeking behaviors for LUTS. In addition to the association between LUTS and mental illness, a temporal relationship exists, that is, LUTS may cause mental illness and vice versa. This bidirectional correlation relationship was demonstrated by a nationwide observational study. The impacts of LUTS vary among different age groups. Older adults have higher LUTS prevalence, whereas younger ones with LUTS have higher risks of developing anxiety and depression. Similarly, the impacts of LUTS differ between men and women. Women have higher LUTS prevalence; however, men with LUTS have higher risks of developing anxiety and depression. In conclusion, significant association and temporal bidirectional relationship exist between LUTS and mental health. Our findings suggested that patients with LUTS also receive mental illness–related health care; similarly, patients with mental illness may have risks of developing subsequent LUTS.