Lower urinary tract symptom severity, urinary bother, and incident life‐space mobility restriction among older men

Abstract Background Life‐space mobility represents the distance, frequency, and independence of mobility, ranging from one's bedroom to beyond their town. Older men with lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) may limit their life‐space to stay close to a bathroom. However, it's unknown whether LUTS severity or urinary bother are associated with risk of life‐space mobility restriction. Methods We analyzed data from 3025 community‐dwelling men age ≥71 years without life‐space mobility restriction at analytic baseline (Year 7) of the Osteoporotic Fractures in Men (MrOS) study. The American Urologic Association Symptom Index (AUASI) was assessed at baseline and includes one question assessing urinary bother (“If you were to spend the rest of your life with your urinary condition just the way it is now, how would you feel about that?”; score 0–1,2,3,4–6) and seven items to classify LUTS severity as none/mild (score 0–7), moderate (8–19), or severe (20–35). The University of Alabama Life‐space Assessment was used to define life‐space mobility restriction (≤60) at baseline and follow‐up (Year 9). We used log‐binomial regression with robust variance estimators to model adjusted risk ratios (ARR) for LUTS severity and urinary bother with incident life‐space mobility restriction, controlling for age, site, health‐related factors, and comorbidities. We then mutually adjusted for urinary bother and LUTS severity. Results Overall, the 2‐year risk of life‐space mobility restrictions was 9.9%. Compared to men without urinary bother (scores 0–1), the risk of life‐space mobility restriction was significantly higher among men with bother scores of 4–6 (ARR = 2.20, 95% CI: 1.52, 3.19), independent of LUTS severity and confounders. Conversely, LUTS severity was not independently associated with the risk of life‐space mobility restriction. Conclusions Urinary bother, but not LUTS severity, is independently associated with incident life‐space mobility restriction among older men. To maintain life‐space mobility in older men with LUTS, future studies should identify shared mechanisms and interventions that minimize urinary bother.