Sex-specific impact of neurogenic lower urinary tract dysfunction on quality of life - a cross-sectional study

The assessment of neurogenic lower urinary tract dysfunction (NLUTD) should include objective and quality of life (QoL) measures, considering sex and gender differences. Thus, we investigated the sex-specific impact of NLUTD on QoL.

We evaluated consecutive outpatients with chronic NLUTD, who had completed the Short Form (SF-)Qualiveen questionnaire between 09/2024 and 01/2026 at a specialized spinal cord injury center, in a cross-sectional study. Patient characteristics and urodynamic parameters were retrieved from patient charts. Treatment success and risk for renal damage were determined based on urodynamic data. The effects of sex, age, bladder evacuation method, urinary incontinence, urinary tract infections and treatment success on SF-Qualiveen overall and domain scores were analyzed.

Data of 113 patients (48 females, 65 males) were analyzed. Mean age was 60.6±12.9 years in females and 61.2±12.4 years in males. Mean NLUTD duration was 21.8±15.1 years in females and 22.1±16.9 years in males. In most patients, NLUTD treatment was successful (77.0%), and no risk for renal damage was present (89.4%). The median overall SF-Qualiveen score was 1.125 (0.625 / 1.844). There were no significant (p>0.11) differences between the sexes in the different QoL scores. Only urinary incontinence had a significant (p=0.04) effect on QoL scores. Patients with urinary incontinence had a significantly (p=0.01) greater overall QoL score (median 1.75, 1.125 / 2.125) compared to those without incontinence (median 1.0, 0.625 / 1.5).

In patients with adequately treated NLUTD, there were no sex-specific differences in QoL. However, urinary incontinence had a negative impact on QoL.