Hypothyroidism is prevalent among adult women with chronic lower urinary tract symptoms

Abstract

Objective To define the prevalence of hypothyroidism in women with chronic lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) and to compare the severity of each symptom between patients with hypothyroidism and controls. Subjects and methods In this prospective observational study, we screened all adult women who came to the urology clinic between March 2017 and September 2020, and enrolled patients with chronic LUTS in the study. We assessed thyroid function. We evaluated the severity of voiding and storage urinary symptoms by the International Prostate Symptom Score. We also assessed the severity of urge urinary incontinence (UUI) and stress urinary incontinence (SUI). For between-group analysis, we selected age-matched cases and controls and compared them regarding the distribution and severity of urinary symptoms. Results Seven hundred and twenty-five women with a mean age of 51.7 +/- 14.0 years were included in the final analysis. Two hundred fifty-eight patients (35.6) had hypothyroidism. Age-matched case and control groups consisting of 210 patients each were selected. There was no significant difference in the severity and distribution of voiding LUTS and UUI between the study groups (P values >0.05). The severity of storage symptoms was lower in patients with hypothyroidism (P = 0.04). Sixty-seven patients with hypothyroidism (31.9) had SUI, which was significantly higher than controls (23.3) (P = 0.03). Conclusion More than one-third of women with chronic LUTS have hypothyroidism which is much more frequent than in the general population. We also suggest a possible relationship between hypothyroidism and the severity of SUI and an inverse relationship between hypothyroidism and storage symptoms.