Overactive Bladder and Suicidal Ideation: A National Cross-Sectional Study Identifying Depression as the Primary...

Area of Science:

• Public Health
• Epidemiology
• Mental Health Research

Background:

• Overactive bladder (OAB) is known to correlate with depression and psychiatric conditions.
• The specific link between OAB and suicidal ideation, and the mediating role of depression, has not been extensively studied using national data.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine the association between overactive bladder and suicidal ideation in U.S. adults.
• To quantify the extent to which depression mediates this relationship.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of 21,408 U.S. adults from the NHANES 2007-2018 dataset.
• Utilized survey-weighted logistic regression and counterfactual mediation analysis.
• Conducted sensitivity analyses based on OAB severity and OAB-wet phenotype.

Main Results:

• Overactive bladder (OAB) was significantly associated with suicidal ideation.
• Depression was found to mediate 79.8% of the total association between OAB and suicidal ideation.
• The direct effect of OAB on suicidal ideation, after accounting for depression, was not statistically significant.

Conclusions:

• Depression is the primary driver of the link between overactive bladder and suicidal ideation.
• Overactive bladder should be considered a potential indicator of mental health vulnerability.
• Routine screening for depression (e.g., using PHQ-9) is recommended in the care of patients with OAB.