Urgency is an independent factor for sleep disturbance in men with obstructive sleep apnea

Objectives: The relationship between overactive bladder (OAB) symptoms, other than nocturia, and sleep, has not been fully evaluated, although a close relationship between nocturia and sleep disturbance has been reported. In the present study, we evaluated the relationship between OAB symptoms and several polysomnography (PSG) parameters in middle-age men with sleep disturbance, especially to clarify whether urgency as the hallmark symptom of an OAB is independently associated with sleep quality.

Methods: A total of 32 men >40 years of age (mean age 58.0 ± 12.6), who had been diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome by PSG, were included in the present study. Their OAB symptoms were evaluated using the OAB symptom score (OABSS) before PSG. The relationship between the OABSS and several parameters, such as sleeping time, sleeping efficiency, sleep latency, percentage of rapid eye movement during sleeping time, and apnea/hypopnea index obtained from PSG, was evaluated.

Results: Multivariate analysis showed that only sleeping efficiency was an influencing factor on the total OABSS. Of the 4 subscores of OABSS, including frequency, nocturia, urgency, and urgency incontinence, multivariate analysis showed that the subscores of nocturia and urgency were independent influencing factors on sleeping efficiency. Nocturia correlated negatively with sleeping efficiency (Pearson's correlation 0.533, P <.01), and urgency also correlated negatively with sleeping efficiency (Pearson's correlation 0.492, P <.01).

Conclusions: We found that urgency and nocturia were factors that independently affected sleep or were affected by sleep quality, although only the association of nocturia with sleep disturbance has been the focus of previous studies.