Factors associated with overactive bladder syndrome in the elderly community: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Objective: to identify risk factors related to overactive bladder syndrome. Method: a cross-sectional study was performed with elderly women (>60 years) from the community of Ceilândia, in the Distrito Federal, Brazil, with or without symptoms of OBS, who were evaluated through interviews and questionnaires. The clinical and sociodemographic variables analyzed were: age; body mass index (BMI); parity, schooling, previous abdominal and urogynecologic surgeries, physical activity, smoking, constipation, systemic arterial hypertension (SAH), diabetes mellitus; depression and anxiety. The questionnaires applied were the Overactive Bladder Awareness Tool (OAB-V8), the Geriatric Depression Scale and the Beck Anxiety Scale. Data were analyzed descriptively. Binary logistic regression was used to evaluate the significant associations between the independent variables and the outcome of interest. Risk ratios were calculated for each independent variable with 95% confidence intervals. Result: A total of 372 volunteers were recruited, 292 of whom were eligible. Of these, 172 were allocated to the case group (58.9%) and 120 (41.1%) were control subjects. The two groups were homogeneous between one another. There was a high prevalence of OBS in the study population and significant differences for the variables presence of SAH, abdominal surgery and pelvic surgery, with the case group presenting a higher frequency of these events. In multivariate analysis, it was observed that an active sexual life reduces the chance of having OBS by 70.8%, while urogynecologic surgeries increase this risk 3.098 times. Conclusion: In univariate logistic regression analysis, BMI, SAH, a previous history of abdominal and urogynecologic surgery, number of abortions and the presence of symptoms of depression and anxiety, were found to be factors associated with OBS.