According to a Finnish population-based cohort study published in the Journal of Urology moderate and severe lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) might be risk factors for mortality in men.

3,143 males aged 50, 60, and 70 years were included in the study who received a questionnaire with the Danish Prostatic Symptom Score, in 1994, and were followed up every 5 years until 2015 and tracked till the end of 2018.

The study revealed that 50.6 % of the 1,167 males in the study died over the course of the 24-year follow-up. Increased mortality was linked to the daytime frequency and urgency incontinence. In multivariable-adjusted analyses of moderate and severe symptoms (disregarding bother), increased mortality was related to voiding and storage LUTS with (HR 1.19, 95% CI 1.00-1.40, and HR 1.35, 95% CI 1.13-1.62, respectively).

Higher mortality was further linked to daytime frequency and nocturia (HR 0.85, 95 %CI 0.65-1.13). (HR 1.31, 95% CI 1.09-1.58, and HR 1.52, 95 % CI 1.21-1.91, respectively).

According to the study, this strong relationship between urine urgency and mortality suggested the importance of urinary urgency in late-life morbidity and frailty, including factors such as white matter hyperintensity load and microvascular diseases.

Thus the study concluded that moderate and severe LUTS were potential risk factors for mortality among men.