Prevalence of pediatric lower urinary tract symptoms in a national claims database of privately insured patients, 2003–2014

We conducted this study to estimate the prevalence of pediatric lower urinary tract symptoms (pLUTS) in a US privately insured pediatric population who are 6–20 years old by age, sex, race/ethnicity from 2003–2014. This has not been previously described in the literature. We retrospectively reviewed Optum’s de-identified Clinformatics® Data Mart Database between 2003–2014. A pLUTS patient was defined by the presence of ≥ 1 pLUTS-related ICD-9 diagnosis code between the age of 6–20 years. Neurogenic bladder, renal transplant and structural urologic disease diagnoses were excluded. Prevalence by year was calculated as a proportion of pLUTS patients among the total population at risk. Variables reviewed included age, sex, race, geographic region, household factors and clinical comorbidities including attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), constipation, and sleep apnea. Point of service (POS) was calculated as a proportion of pLUTS-related claims associated with a POS compared to the total claims at all POS in the time period. We identified 282,427 unique patients with ≥ 1 claim for pLUTS between the ages of 6–20 years from 2003 to 2014. Average prevalence during this period was 0.92