Nocturia has no impact on depression severity in patients suffering from depression but correlates with sleep quality

In general population, the relationship between nocturia, depressive symptoms and sleep disturbance has been widely investigated. However, there is a paucity of data analyzing the significance of nocturia for depression severity and potential influence of nocturia on sleeping problems in depressed patients. To address this vacuum, we analyzed the impact of nocturia on depression severity and sleep quality in patients suffering from depression.

We conducted a cross-sectional study of depressed patients treated in outpatient and inpatient Department of Adult Psychiatry, Jagiellonian University, Krakow. All patients met the DSM-5 and ICD-10 criteria for depression. Nocturia was assessed with the International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS), severity of depression with the 17-item Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HRDS), and sleep quality with the Holland Sleep Disorders Questionnaire (HSDQ). Statistical analysis was carried out using an ANOVA test (post-hoc Tukey test).

Totally, 98 patients were included in our analysis. Nocturia was reported by 68 individuals. Majority of our patients (35) suffered from mild depression. The mean HSDQ score was 78.8 (range 32-146). Our analysis rejected the impact of nocturia on depression severity (p = 0.625) but revealed statistically significant correlation between nocturia and sleep quality (p = 0.037). A post-hoc test investigating the relationship between severity of nocturia and sleeping problems has demonstrated that higher number of night-time episodes of urination (at least 3 episodes) leads to significantly higher scores in the HSDQ.

Our analysis showed no impact of nocturia on illness severity in patients suffering from depression. However, we demonstrated correlation between nocturia and sleep quality in depressed individuals. Further studies with a larger number of patients are needed to validate the obtained results.