New research from the Hospital del Mar in Barcelona indicates overactive bladder is linked to sleep apnea in women, reports Bel Marra Health.
The findings come from researchers at the Hospital del Mar in Barcelona, Spain. Seventy-two female participants completed questionnaires about their symptoms related to bladder control, urgency and frequency of urination, incontinence, and nocturia. The women were also asked to rate their discomfort with each of the symptoms.
The sixty-two women diagnosed with sleep apnea also had significantly higher scores on the prevalence of bladder symptoms.
Lead author Núria Grau said, “Overactive bladder has a prevalence of 16 percent among people over 40 years in Europe, and it is a difficult condition to live with, affecting a person’s quality of life. The findings of this study provide evidence that bladder control could be linked to sleep apnea, although we do not know whether one of the conditions causes the other. The next step in our research is to investigate the role of continuous positive airway pressure therapy in these patients and its impact on the symptoms of overactive bladder.”
