Poor sleep tied to urinary, prostate symptoms

Poor sleep quality is associated with an increased prevalence of lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS)/benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), according to a study published online Oct. 24 in Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience.

Yifan Li, from the West China Hospital of Sichuan University in Chengdu, and colleagues evaluated the association between sleep disorders and LUTS/BPH among Chinese men. The analysis included 11,824 survey respondents.

The researchers found that when adjusting for confounding variables, the global Pittsburgh sleep quality index score (odds ratio [OR], 1.257) and its five components (subjective sleep quality: OR, 1.376; sleep latency: OR, 0.656; sleep duration: OR, 1.441; habitual sleep efficiency: OR, 1.369; and daytime dysfunction: OR, 1.702) were significantly positively correlated with LUTS/BPH prevalence. There were significant interaction effects seen by age subgroups, with sleep disorders more significantly associated with the risk for LUTS/BPH among older participants.

"Our findings suggested that sleep disorders are associated with an increased prevalence of LUTS/BPH. Moreover, the significant interaction between age and sleep disorders showed that older people are more likely to develop LUTS/BPH due to sleep disorders," the authors write. "Our study provides data support for the possible future proposal to prevent LUTS/BPH by improving sleep disorders. Their potential biological mechanisms need to be further studied."