ORIGINAL RESEARCH—WOMEN'S SEXUAL HEALTH: Do Women with Female Ejaculation Have Detrusor Overactivity?

Abstract

ABSTRACT Introduction Questionnaire surveys suggest that 40–54% of women have experienced an expulsion of fluid at orgasm. Some of these women have coital incontinence, whereas others identify the fluid passed as female ejaculate. Aim To assess whether women who have experienced female ejaculation have detrusor overactivity or the bothersome lower urinary tract symptoms associated with coital incontinence. Methods We recruited six women who self-identified as having experienced female ejaculation and six controls who had not. Each woman completed a 3-day bladder diary and two validated bladder questionnaires: the Urgency Perception Scale (UPS) and the Incontinence Impact Questionnaire (IIQ). Each woman underwent short provocative ambulatory urodynamics, a modified form of urodynamics, with a high sensitivity for detrusor overactivity. Main Outcome Measures Prevalence of detrusor overactivity, 24-hour urinary frequency, IIQ and UPS scores. Results No woman in either group had detrusor overactivity. The bladder diaries and questionnaire results were within the normal range for all women. Conclusion Women who experience female ejaculation may have normal voiding patterns, no bothersome incontinence symptoms, and no demonstrable detrusor overactivity. Women who report female ejaculation, in the absence of other lower urinary tract symptoms, do not require further investigation, and may be reassured that it is an uncommon, but physiological, phenomenon.