Association between neurogenic bladder symptom score and disability status in multiple sclerosis patients

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic neurodegenerative disease that frequently causes neurogenic lower urinary tract dysfunction (NLUTD). More than 75% of patients experience urinary symptoms that negatively affect quality of life.

We conducted a cross-sectional study including 117 MS patients attending our neurourology clinic. The Neurogenic Bladder Symptom Score (NBSS) was administered, and clinical data, including the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS), were collected. Spearman correlation was used to analyze the relationship between NBSS and EDSS. A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve determined the optimal NBSS cutoff for discriminating disability severity.

The NBSS showed a weak but significant correlation with EDSS (r=0.274, P=0.003). Patients with EDSS ≥5 had higher NBSS scores compared to those with EDSS <5 (median 24 vs 14, P=0.02). ROC analysis identified an NBSS cutoff of 18 points for distinguishing EDSS <5 from ≥5, with an area under the curve of 0.657 (95% CI: 0.56-0.75).

The NBSS showed a significant correlation with EDSS, indicating that urinary symptom severity increases with neurological disability in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). These results highlight the usefulness of NBSS as a complementary measure for assessing urinary dysfunction in MS.

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