Overactive bladder common in postacute COVID-19 syndrome

Overactive bladder (OAB) symptoms are common in patients recovering from postacute COVID-19 syndrome (PACS), according to a study published online Oct. 26 in the Journal of Multidisciplinary Healthcare.

Athanasios Zachariou, M.D., Ph.D., from the University of Ioannina in Greece, and colleagues examined the consequences on bladder function in patients suffering from PACS. The analysis included 66 of 147 patients who reported experiencing "a sudden, uncontrolled need to urinate and sometimes a urine leakage" after recovering from the acute stage of COVID-19.

The researchers found that 44 patients were newly diagnosed with OAB (group A; post-COVID-19 assessment) and 22 had worsening OAB symptoms (group B). Group A had a mean symptom score of 18.25 using the American Urological Association Urology Care Foundation Overactive Bladder Assessment Tool, while the mean score increased in group B from 10.43 pre-COVID-19 to 17.87 post-COVID-19.

The total quality of life (QOL) score was 17.74 in group A, while group B showed escalation in the total QOL score from 9.04 pre-COVID-19 to 18.84 post-COVID-19. Men and women were similar with respect to symptoms and QOL scores in groups A and B.

"The outcomes of the present study emphasize OAB symptoms and the impaired quality of life in patients recovering from COVID-19," the authors write. "The presence of OAB was a significant issue, and a suitable questionnaire was the pertinent way to prove it. In our study, the chronological characteristics of the alterations of urinary symptoms suggest that COVID-19 affects the lower urinary tract and that PACS can induce OAB."