Research Paper: Comparison of Bladder Dysfunction and Urinary Symptoms Between Multiple Sclerosis and Neuromyelitis Optica Spectrum Disorder

Background: Neuromyelitis optica (NMO) and multiple sclerosis (MS) are auto immune demyelinating disorders. Both MS and NMO patients suffer from urinary dysfunction. Objectives: Investigation of frequency and severity of urinary symptoms in two groups of MS and NMO patients. Materials & Methods: 56 MS patients and 20 NMO patients were enrolled in this cross sectional study conducted in Isfahan Kashani hospital from March 2018 to September 2018. Frequency and severity of urinary symptoms were assessed using the urogenital distress inventory (UDI-6) and international prostate symptom score (IPSS) questionnaire. Data were analyzed using independent t-test, Mann Whitney U test and Pearson correlation coefficient with the SPSS V. 18. Results: The Mean±SD of age was 40.2±11.45 and 34.1±9.09 in NMO and MS group respectively. There was a significant difference between MS and NMO patients regarding their overall IPSS score (9.8±7.9 and 14.6±11.3 respectively). The frequency of mild, moderate and severe urinary symptoms was 25%, 50 % and 25% among NMO patients and 48.2%, 35.7% and 16.1% among MS patients respectively. Based on UDI-6 questionnaire the most frequent symptoms in MS and NMO patients were frequency and urgency respectively and they are more frequent among NMO patients rather than MS patients. Conclusion: Our results showed a significant difference in frequency and severity of urinary symptoms between NMO and MS patients and NMO patients tend to experience more severe urinary symptoms.