Association between lower urinary tract symptoms and psychiatric comorbidities in children and adolescents

Lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) frequently co-occur with anxiety disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and attention-deficit / hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

However, a comprehensive picture of the nature of risk for LUTS and the relationship with mental disorders in youth is currently lacking.

The goal of this project is to improve treatment for LUTS via a better understanding of the relationship between LUTS and psychiatric comorbidities.

We will shed light on the shared liability of storage symptoms, voiding symptoms, and overactive bladder syndrome (OAB) with anxiety disorders, PTSD, and ADHD in youth.We have created a prospectively-ascertained cohort containing all individuals born in Sweden between 1990 and 2005 using the Swedish Medical Birth Register.

We will investigate the following Aims: 1.

Evaluate the age- and sex-specific incidence rates and heritability of urinary storage symptoms, voiding symptoms, and OAB in youth. 2.

Evaluate the association between LUTS (urinary storage symptoms, voiding symptoms, OAB) and the most related psychiatric comorbidities in youth. 3.

Evaluate the causal relationship between LUTS (urinary storage symptoms, voiding symptoms, OAB) and the most related psychiatric comorbidities.These results are expected to have a positive impact on patient quality of life by providing the foundation for early preventive interventions, which are currently lacking.