Psychiatric Problems Affect Impact of Urinary Infections
by -- Jane Parry Updated: Oct 21st 2009
WEDNESDAY, Oct. 21 (HealthDay News) -- Psychiatric health problems and sexual trauma are common among women who present with lower urinary tract infections, and these issues have an effect on the impact of such infections, according to a study published online Oct. 20 in advance of the December print issue of The Journal of Urology.
Adam P. Klausner, M.D., of the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine in Richmond, and colleagues conducted a study of 121 female veterans who completed questionnaires on urogenital distress and incontinence when they attended a urology clinic for evaluation of lower urinary tract symptoms. The patients' baseline psychiatric and sexual trauma history was compared with that of 1,298 controls.
The researchers found the rate of psychiatric comorbidities to be 64.5 percent in the group referred for specialist treatment, compared to 25.9 percent in the control group, and the rate of sexual trauma was also higher, at 49.6 percent versus 20.1 percent for the controls. Patients with psychiatric comorbidities and sexual trauma had higher incontinence questionnaire scores than those who did not have psychiatric health problems or sexual trauma experience.
"The prevalence of psychiatric comorbidities and sexual trauma is high in female veterans presenting for evaluation of lower urinary tract symptoms," the authors write. "This study demonstrates that psychiatric comorbidities appear to impact quality of life related to lower urinary tract symptoms but not the type or severity of symptoms."
