Link Between Current Smoking Status, Urinary Urgency Symptoms

Background: Although many suspect there is an association between smoking and overactive bladder (OAB), attempts to establish this have not been successful. Objective: To evaluate the relationship between smoking and urgency with regard to both a temporal and quantitative pack-year history of smoking while controlling for other possible confounding factors. Design: Secondary analysis of large cross-sectional database. Participants/Methods: Research volunteers using the National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded ResearchMatch website were invited to respond to questions online, including the Lower Urinary Tract Research Network-Symptom Index (LURN-SI 29) validated questionnaire, to determine smoking history (never, former, current) and degree of urinary urgency (once in past 7 days, at least half the time, or urgency urinary incontinence [UUI]). Chi-squared analysis and logistic regression were used to determine an association between smoking status, pack-year history, and OAB symptom more...