Influence of bladder management on long-term quality of life in patients with neurogenic lower urinary tract dysfunction

Background and objective: Patients with spinal cord injury suffer from neurogenic lower urinary tract dysfunction (NLUTD). NLUTD is associated with a considerable morbidity and mortality, but also affects the quality of life (QoL). We aimed to evaluate the longitudinal course of QoL in persons with NLUTD in relation to their bladder management. Subjects and methods: In a prospective self-controlled case series study. Patients with chronic NLUTD managing their bladder either by intermittent catheterization (n = 21), reflex voiding (n = 8), anterior root stimulation (n = 7), straining (n = 7) or suprapubic catheter (n = 4) were asked to fill in the Qualiveen® questionnaire at two time points with a time span of at least 1 year. Eleven patients were tetraplegic, and 36 persons suffered from paraplegia. The study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Ethikkommission Nordwestund Zentralschweiz (approval No. PB_2016-02657) on September 24, 2007. Results: In total 47 patients returned both questionnaires and their data were therefore evaluated. The mean age at the first evaluation was 52 ± 12.8 years. The mean duration of NLUTD was 20.4 ± 12.3 years. A mean 2.4 ± 0.5 years had elapsed from the first to the second evaluation. None of the Qualiveen questionnaire domains showed a significant change between the two evaluation time points. The lesion level had a significant (P ≤ 0.023) effect on the domains constraints and QoL index. Conclusion: QoL in patients with chronic NLUTD seems to remain stable in long-term follow-up. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT02179073) on July 1, 2014.