Differences between bothersome and non-bothersome night-time frequency

To determine the distributions of bothersome and non-bothersome nocturnal voiding and the differences between them using a community-based study.

A total of 2,205 men and women aged 41-70 years from three Japanese towns responded to our postal questionnaire survey. The questionnaire included the International Prostate Symptom Score, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Medical Outcome Study Short Form-8, medical history of several diseases, and history of cigarette smoking and alcohol consumption. We chose subjects who had one or two episodes of nocturnal voiding per night and divided them into two subgroups based on the answer to a question on trouble sleeping due to nocturnal voiding in the PSQI. We compared data regarding lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS), sleep, and general health-related quality of life (GHQL) among these subgroups.

Of the subjects: 314 (14.2%), 693 (31.4%), 149 (6.8%), and 168 (7.6%) had once-bothersome, once-non-bothersome, twice-bothersome, and twice-non-bothersome nocturnal voiding per night, respectively. Regarding LUTS, the twice-bothersome nocturnal voiding group had the worst and the once-non-bothersome group had the best scores while the once-bothersome and twice-non-bothersome nocturnal voiding groups had equivalent scores. Regarding sleep and GHQL, trouble sleeping but not the frequency of nocturnal voiding per se affected the scores. The twice-non-bothersome nocturnal voiding group generally had better scores than the once-bothersome group, while the former had more frequent nocturnal voiding.

Sleep and GHQL of subjects with mild (once or twice) night-time frequency are considerably impacted by sleeping troubles.