UroToday.com – There is increasing evidence of an association between lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) and chronic conditions such as obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. Results from the present study – The Boston Area Community Health Survey – conducted in a population-based sample of men, show an association between LUTS and the metabolic syndrome, a precursor state for diabetes and cardiovascular disease that includes criteria for dyslipidemia, hyperglycemia, hypertension, and central adiposity.
These findings suggest that patients with components of the metabolic syndrome should be queried with respect to urologic function as well as their degree of associated bother.
Additionally, the observed association between LUTS and the metabolic syndrome provides further evidence that some of the common problems associated with aging such as weight gain, cardiovascular and diabetes risk, and urinary problems may have common underlying factors that are not well understood.
Further research, especially longitudinal studies, are needed among both men and women to establish the temporal sequence between LUTS and the metabolic syndrome and to determine whether there is a common underlying pathophysiology.
Written by Varant Kupelian as part of Beyond the Abstract on UroToday.com
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