Prevalence of overactive bladder and other lower urinary tract symptoms in female nurses in Beijing and its association with occupational stress

Objective To evaluate the prevalence of overactive bladder (OAB) and other lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS),and to study its association with occupational stress in female nurses in Beijing.Methods From September 2010 to March 2011,1135 registered female nurses with one or more years of nursing experience were cluster-sampled.The participants completed questionnaires on LUTS-related symptoms and Occupational Stress Inventory-Revised (OSI-R) tests.Multiple Logistic regressions were performed to evaluate the independent impact of perceived occupational stress on OAB and other LUTS,adjusting for age,body mass index (BMI),and history of childbearing and pelvic surgery.Results 1070 valid responses to questionnaires were obtained.The mean age of the respondents was (30±8) years,ranged from 19 to 58.The prevalence of OAB was 27.57％ (295 cases,95％CI:24.89％-30.25％).LUTS of any types occured in 89.63％ of nurses (959,95％CI:87.80％-91.45％),with 64.39％ reporting urgency (689,95％CI:61.52％-67.26％),27.10％ reporting increased daytime frequency (290,95％ CI:24.44％-29.77％),17.85％ reporting nocturia (191,95％CI:15.59％-20.18％) and 21.03％ reporting urge incontinence (225,95％CI:18.59％-23.47％).The occupational stress and psychological strain levels of nurses were higher than those of normative populations,while their coping resources were lower.Most of the subscales of occupational stress and psychological strain showed higher results for nurses with OAB than for those with OAB-free,while coping resources were not found to make any significant differences.After adjusting age,BMI,and childbearing and pelvic surgery history,each sub-scale of OSI-R was found to be associated with at least one type of LUTS.Conclusions The prevalence of OAB and other LUTS is high among female nurses in Beijing,and occupational stress may be a contributing factor.Taking measures to decrease their occupational stress and psychological strain may improve urological health among female nurses. Key words: Lower urinary tract symptoms;  Overactive bladder;  Nurses;  Occupational stress; Questionnaires