Physical activity reduces men’s nocturia risk

Physical activity lowers men’s risk of developing nocturia and should be recommended to patients with the condition, a leading men’s health expert and Urology Times Editorial Council member says.

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For the study, which was published online ahead of print in Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise (July 9, 2014), the authors analyzed data from the Prostate, Lung, Colorectal, and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial (PLCO). The analysis included 28,404 men who had BPH outcomes before enrolling in the study (prevalent group) and 4,710 men who had newly developed BPH (incident group).

Among men in the incident group, those who were physically active 1 or more hours per week were 13% less likely to report nocturia and 34% less likely to report severe nocturia than men who reported no physical activity, according to a press release from Loyola University, Mayfield, IL. (Nocturia was defined as waking two or more times during the night to urinate; severe nocturia was defined as waking three or more times to urinate.)

“Combined with other management strategies, physical activity may provide a strategy for the management of BPH-related outcomes, particularly nocturia,” wrote the researchers, led by Kate Wolin, ScD, of Loyola University’s Chicago Stritch School of Medicine.

Dr. Wolin and her co-authors added that future studies should explore physical activity as a potential symptom-management strategy, “with particular attention to the dose of physical activity necessary and the mechanisms that might underlie the association.”

Next: Steven A. Kaplan, MD, comments on study

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Steven A. Kaplan, MD, who was not involved with the research, commented that the link between physical activity and reduced nocturia risk “seems like a no-brainer.”

“It’s more than likely that folks who exercise are more physically fit, more likely to have a lower incidence of either central obesity and/or sleep apnea as well as other comorbidities,” said Dr. Kaplan, of Weill Cornell Medical College and the Iris Cantor Men’s Health Center at New York Presbyterian Hospital, New York.

Still, Dr. Kaplan told Urology Times that clinicians should encourage physical activity in men with nocturia.

“However, it is unlikely to be an independent factor that significantly changes the nocturia profile in individual patients. No doubt, it's the constellation of other positive attributes that helped contribute to these findings,” Dr. Kaplan added.

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