Association between lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) and obsessive-compulsive disorders (OCD) in women: A study based on urodynamic findings and micturition problem.

AIM

This study focused on women with chronic lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) who simultaneously suffered from obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) to evaluate the association between micturition abnormality and OCD.

METHODS

A cohort case study was conducted on 128 women with chronic LUTS who visited the academic clinic from 2012 to 2018. The participants with a history of OCD were grouped together, whereas the other group consisted of those with no psychiatric issues. Data were analyzed using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test and also the nonparametric Kruskal-Wallis and χ tests.

RESULTS

The participants with OCD had a lower mean age (41.7 vs. 48.8 years) and longer symptom duration than the control group. Moreover, voiding phase problems were more prevalent among OCD patients (mean voiding score: 9.3 vs. 6.9). Urge urinary incontinence (UUI) was the most common type of urinary incontinence in OCD patients, and the most important urodynamic study finding was bladder outlet obstruction (45% and 17% in the OCD and control groups, respectively). Voiding disorders resulted in chronic renal failure in two patients (3.12%). It was shown that bladder outlet obstruction (odds ratio (OR) 4.43, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.53-12.78, p = 0.006] was the strongest predictor of OCD and stress urinary incontinence (OR 0.20, 95% CI 0.07-0.53, p < 0.001) was the best protector against OCD.

CONCLUSION

The findings revealed that chronic LUTS was related to voiding dysfunction and urodynamic abnormality in OCD patients. These disorders may be categorized as somatoform disorder that requires appropriate treatments.