Correlation Between Female Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms and Genital Vibratory Thresholds

Biothesiometer is a device for quantitatively measuring vibratory thresholds in a noninvasive manner. It has been utilized for evaluating variety of neurological diseases for decades. We aimed to investigate difference of vibratory thresholds according to presence of specific lower urinary tract symptoms(LUTS).

173 female patients were included in this study. We investigated medical history, and performed physical examination, cystoscopy, and biothesiometry. Biothesiometry were recorded on clitoris, vestibules, and both labia minora. Relationship between age, LUTS, serum triglyceride(TG) and cholesterol(Chol) level, and vibratory thresholds were also analyzed.

Mean age of patients was 51.8±9.4 years. LUTS consisted of stress urinary incontinence(SUI)(87.4%), urgency or urge incontinence(UUI)(77.1%), and frequency(66%). Age was closely related with vibratory thresholds. Correlation coefficient was 0.394, 0.343, 0.332, 0.294, 0.279 for clitoris, both labia, and anterior and posterior vestibules, respectively(p<0.001). Patients with SUI and UUI showed significantly increased vibratory thresholds on clitoris and right labium compared to those who do not have any of SUI or UUI(p<0.05). TG and Chol levels were not related with vibratory thresholds.

Vibratory thresholds of external genitalia area were increased in proportion to age. Patients had different vibratory thresholds according to their LUTS. This finding suggests that LUTS is associated with insufficiency of pudendal nerve.