Effect of vitamin-D and other factors on the presence and severity of urinary incontinence and overactive bladder in elderly individuals

Abstract

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the effect of serum vitamin D levels on urinary incontinence and overactive bladder in elderly individuals. Methods: The study included 106 elderly individuals who had their serum vitamin D levels measured in the past year. Sociodemographic characteristics, habits, medical histories, medications used, height, and weight data were collected. The ICIQ-UI short form and Overactive Bladder-V8 form were adminis-tered. Participants were grouped based on their vitamin D levels. Results: Among participants, 17.9% had severe vitamin D deficiency, 28.3% had vitamin D deficiency, 18.9% had vitamin D insufficiency, and 34.9% had normal vitamin D levels. No significant association was found between vitamin D levels and the presence of urinary incontinence and overactive bladder. When participants were grouped by vitamin D levels, there was no significant difference in the presence of urinary incontinence and overactive bladder among the groups. However, a significant difference was found in the severity of overactive bladder. Individuals with normal vitamin D levels had significantly higher rates of urinary incontinence and overactive bladder compared to those with lower levels. Conclusion: Urinary incontinence increases with age and may be associated with aging-related comor-bidities. Although reports in the literature suggest a relationship between vitamin D deficiency and urinary incontinence and overactive bladder, this relationship was not confirmed in our study. This discrepancy may be due to differences in the characteristics of the populations studied in the literature.