Exploring how sleep disturbances interact with urological diseases
Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms (LUTS) due to diverse etiologies are experienced by both genders, however, men have increased burden due to age-related pathological changes in the prostate. Approximately one in every four men aged 50 or above and more than 80% of men in their 80s have LUTS due to benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). The medical management of LUTS/BPH is estimated to cost more than 4 billion dollars annually in the US imposing a significant economic burden on the healthcare system. LUTS include voiding and irritative symptoms, which can significantly diminish the quality of life but is also linked to a range of complications, including but not limited to urinary tract infection, acute urinary retention, urolithiasis, and renal failure, the latter often persisting after prostate outlet surgery.
Nocturia, defined as “the complaint that the individual has to wake at night one or more times to void”, is among the worst symptoms that patients frequently complain about. The impact of LUTS on the quality of life in patients with nocturia is significantly worse than patients with only day-time symptoms. Nocturia causes sleep fragmentation, chronic fatigue and increased risk of falls. In turn, sleep disturbance leads to increased morbidity and mortality.
Our team is investigating whether sleep fragmentation independently drives pathological changes in the prostate, such as inflammation and fibrosis and whether it worsens the progression of BPH mouse models.