Is coronavirus disease 2019 associated with indicators of long‐term bladder dysfunction?

Abstract

Objective Early reports have suggested that coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) can present with significant urinary frequency and nocturia, and that these symptoms correlate with markers of inflammation in the urine. We evaluated surrogate markers of chronic urinary symptoms to determine if they were more frequent after COVID‐19 infection. Methods Routinely collected data from the province of Ontario was used to conduct a matched, retrospective cohort study. We identified patients 66 years of age or older who had a positive COVID‐19 test between February and May 2020 and survived at least 2 months after their diagnosis. We matched them to two similar patients who did not have a positive COVID‐19 test during the same time period. We measured the frequency of urology consultation, cystoscopy, and new prescriptions for overactive bladder medications during a subsequent 3‐month period. Proportional hazard models were adjusted for any baseline differences between the groups. Results We matched 5617 patients with COVID‐19 to 11,225 people who did not have COVID‐19. The groups were similar, aside from a higher proportion of patients having hypertension and diabetes in the CoVID‐19 cohort. There was no significantly increased hazard of new receipt of overactive bladder medication (hazards ratio [HR]: 1.04, p = 0.88), urology consultation (HR: 1.40, p = 0.10), or cystoscopy (HR: 1.14, p = 0.50) among patients who had COVID‐19, compared to the matched cohort. Conclusion Surrogate markers of potential bladder dysfunction were not significantly increased in the 2–5 months after COVID‐19 infection.

Autonomic dysfunction in post-COVID patients with and witfhout neurological symptoms: a prospective multidomain observational study

“…In the acute phase, increased urinary frequency has been previously reported in 1/8 of male patients, and suggested to be secondary to viral cystitis due to underlying COVID-19 disease [66]. However, despite these potential mechanisms, a large cohort study found bladder dysfunction not significantly increased in the 2-5 months after COVID-19 infection [67]. In our sample, 1/4 to 1/2 of the sample reported some sort of urinary dysfunction, including both involuntary voids and voiding difficulty.…”

Urodynamically proven lower urinary tract dysfunction in children after COVID‐19: A case series

“…A recent study conducted with a large patient population over 66 years of age has found no significant increase in the development of urinary storage symptoms, medication due to overactive bladder, or the need for urological intervention during the first 5 months after diagnosis of COVID‐19. 14 …”

“…A recent study conducted with a large patient population over 66 years of age has found no significant increase in the development of urinary storage symptoms, medication due to overactive bladder, or the need for urological intervention during the first 5 months after diagnosis of COVID-19. 14 LUTS developing on the background of depression, anxiety, or other stress symptoms (insomnia, etc.) without a neurologic or organic etiology has been defined as bladder somatic symptom disorder.…”

Long COVID and COVID-19-associated cystitis (CAC)

“…BPH and radiation cystitis); the authors hypothesize that the previous urological conditions made the patients especially vulnerable to damage to the urinary tract by COVID-19, including hematuria [ 24 ]. Interestingly, Welk and colleagues have reported that there was no increase in urology consultation, cystoscopy, or overactive bladder medication prescription among patients who had COVID-19, compared to the matched cohort [ 25 ]. However, their study was limited in that it did not contain patient reported outcome measures, or direct measures of urinary symptoms.…”