Nocturia Increases Mortality Risk

Nocturia significantly increased mortality risk in men and women, according to data from a government health survey.

Overall, awakening more than twice a night to urinate increased mortality risk by 50% in men and by more than 30% among women. Nocturia doubled the mortality risk of people younger than 65, and the effect was independent of comorbidities.

"Chronic sleep loss adversely effects metabolic and endocrine function," said Kupelian, of the New England Research Institutes in Watertown, Mass. "Nocturia may be a marker of impending morbidity, such as cardiovascular disease or diabetes. Nocturia may also be a marker of overall health."

Stratification by age resulted in the unexpected finding of a higher mortality risk in younger people.

http://www.medpagetoday.com/MeetingCoverage/AUA/20396

Slinky, this is NOT against you, but I HATE it when people / reporters are sloppy with their wording. As you note "Nocturia may also be a marker of overall health." But a correlation between nocturia and increased morbidity does NOT mean that nocturia causes the morbidity. As the phrase goes: "Correlation does not imply causation". See the following article:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Correlatio ... _causation

However, I do thank you for bringing this to our attention. It is clearly a marker for possible problems. If someone has problems with nocturia, then they should discuss it with their doctor, since it may indicate a serious - even deadly - health risk.

I didnt even know what nocturia WAS before I got diagnosed with osa several months ago

I had to get up five times a night, and I thought it was because I was just getting OLDER...

Nocturia, I think is something a lot of people know nothing about, and write it off, when it can be the symptom of something very serious.

I did end up going to my ob gyns office for a test to see if I had a bladder infection, it was negative.. and I explained it only happened at night, and
they were PERPLEXED..

Since they thought it was such a mystery that I only had to go only at night, and did not have an infection, they were going to send me
to a urologist.. but I had the sleep study before that appt.. I wonder how many urologists diagnose nocturia and
write up consults for sleep studies?

After seeing a pulmonary doctor, I know nocturia was a screaming red flag symptom for me.. lack of oxygen creating
pressure on my left ventricle, wish all the docs knew something serious can be up if someone has to get up four or five times a night to pee.

Not a problem, JohnB. I make enough of my own "grammatical" mistakes. That one was the article's author, not mine. I'm always glad to "share the blame". *wicked grin*

Since they thought it was such a mystery that I only had to go only at night, and did not have an infection, they were going to send meto a urologist.. but I had the sleep study before that appt.. I wonder how many urologists diagnose nocturia and write up consults for sleep studies?

Interesting point. I wonder if urologists immediately look at someone's facial structure and consider SA. Nocturia, on it's own, is not a diagnosis, but a symptom. A urologist will rule out urological causes, but I, too, wonder how many would think of OSA as a cause for "nocturia, NOS" (urination at night, no other symptoms) once all the obvious urological and common problems (like diabetes) are ruled out.

Slinky wrote:Nocturia significantly increased mortality risk in men and women, according to data from a government health survey

"The study was supported by Ferring Pharmaceuticals".....I bet they have drug to treat the symptom!

Cheers,

Bill

billbolton wrote:

Slinky wrote:Nocturia significantly increased mortality risk in men and women, according to data from a government health survey

"The study was supported by Ferring Pharmaceuticals".....I bet they have drug to treat the symptom!

Cheers,

Bill

http://www.ferring.com/en/newsroom/pres ... _Risks.htm

I can't believe they could come up with this screwy logic........nocturia IS the symptom.
Anybody read the comments posted below the article in the medpagetoday link that Slinky posted?


Den

The title would be better if it read "Nocturia [associated with] Increase[d] Mortality Risk". It is true that nocturia can be a symptom of other things (such as for example diabetes etc etc). In this example diabetes is probably going to kill you much before nocturia, but nocturia is ASSOCIATED with an increased risk of death even though it is not causal). But, nocturia may have sequelae such as disrupted sleep and disrupted sleep probably has morbidity and mortality associated with it. In this case, nocturia is ASSOCIATED with an increased risk of death, and is a cause (causal) of increased mortality even though it is not directly causal. In this case we say it is indirect. Drinking less water before bedtime or taking Ferring Pharma's nocturia drug (if they have one) would not decrease risk of death in the first example, but very well might in the second example. Non-causal symptoms can be useful biomarkers even though they are non-mechanistic, non-causal. (I am a professional pharmaceutical scientist but not associated with Ferring or nocturia - though I have it). Personally, I believe nocturia can be a symptom of sleep apnea. I get up more often to urinate when I am not using CPAP than when I am using CPAP. Sleep apnea causes nocturia for me (and we all know untreated sleep apnea does increase risk of death.