The Coexistence of the Fibromyalgia Syndrome and the Overactive Bladder Syndrome

Abstract

Objectives: Overactive bladder syndrome [OBS] and fibromyalgia syndrome [FMS] have similar etiopathological factors such as serotonine, endoteline-1, noradrenaline, etc. The aim of this study was to investigate the relation between OBS and FMS.

Methods: This was a prospective study. Patients with OBS and healthy normal control subjects were included in this study. The diagnosis of FMS was based on the 1990 criteria of American College Rheumatology and the diagnosis of OBS was based on urgency and urge incontinence symptoms. All participants completed a questionnaire to gather information including demographic features, medical history such as presence of headache, poor sleep, and urological symptoms, and the Beck depression scale. Patients with OBS were divided into two subgroups according to coexistence of FMS [OBS or OBS + FMS.]

Results: Forty patients with OBS and 40 healthy normal control subjects were included in this study. All of the subjects with FMS were female. The FMS was present in 30 percent of OBS subjects and five percent of healthy normal controls [P < 0.05]. Urge incontinence was more common in the OBS than the OBS +FMS subgroup [P< 0.05]. There was not any significant difference with respect to headache, poor sleep, and Beck depression scale score [P > 0.05]. There was a positive correlation between the duration of OBS and FMS [r = 0.614, P < 0.05].

Conclusion: Our findings suggest that there is an association between OBS and FMS, especially in female patients. This may be due to altered serotonin function.

KEYWORDS:

• Fibromyalgia syndrome
• overactive bladder
• serotonin
• depression