This project utilizes dietary data that was collected as part of the Boston Area Community Health (BACH) study to help fill knowledge gaps in the nutritional epidemiology of urogynecologic symptoms in a diverse, random community-based sample. Lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS), including storage, voiding and post micturition symptoms, are a source of daily bother and burden and profoundly lower the quality of life of millions of adults - over 30 million men and women in the US alone. The once prevailing paradigm that these symptoms are an inevitable aspect of aging, unaffected by modification of lifestyle choices, must be challenged, and this study responds to nation-wide calls for research to identify risk factors for these symptoms. One of the most readily modifiable lifestyle factors that holds highly plausible mechanisms of offering relief and prevention, as well as being involved in the initiation and progression, of LUTS is diet - i.e., the nutrients and beverages consumed daily. This study examines the cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between intakes of carbohydrate, protein, types of fat, sodium, cholesterol, vitamin C, vitamin A, carotenoids, calcium and zinc, and LUTS, voiding symptoms, post micturition symptoms, and storage symptoms, including urgency and urinary incontinence, separately in men and women. It also examines dietary versus supplemental sources of micronutrients and dose-response trends across categories of intake. Intakes of various beverage types are also examined prospectively to verify anecdotal evidence regarding effects of caffeine, acidic or carbonated beverages. BACH obtained a complete validated dietary assessment that takes into account ethnic variation in food consumption, which, together with in-depth data on urologic symptoms, sociodemographics, anthropometrics, health status, medication and supplement usage, provides a unique cost-efficient opportunity to conduct multivariate analyses of the role of nutrients and beverages in urologic symptoms among men and women.
7. PROJECT NARRATIVE This study will investigate the associations between intakes of macronutrients, micronutrients, fluids and lower urinary tract symptoms in a diverse, population-based sample of men and women using both cross- sectional and prospective cohort study design methodologies. Lower urinary tract symptoms will be examined both overall and also grouped as storage symptoms, including urgency and urinary incontinence, voiding symptoms, and post micturition symptoms.
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