Altered gut microbiome associated with overactive bladder and daily urinary urgency

Purpose To explore associations between the gut microbiome and overactive bladder (OAB) with daily urinary urgency among individuals reporting this diagnosis within a single community. Methods This cross-sectional study surveyed 1113 individuals who participated in the Iwaki Health Promotion Project in Japan. OAB was defined as urinary urgency at least once per week and an Overactive Bladder Symptom Score (OABSS) of ≥ 3. OAB with urinary urgency at least once a day was defined as daily urgency. The gut microbiomes were assessed by next-generation sequencing of 16S rRNA genes extracted from fecal samples. The participants were divided into two groups: OAB-daily urgency and non-OAB. Cases were selected for inclusion on the basis of 1:1 propensity score matching; we assigned 58 individuals to each group (23 men and 35 women) for our analysis. Results Individuals reporting OAB with daily urinary urgency demonstrated a lower bacterial diversity between individuals (Bray–Curtis distance 0.48 vs. 0.53, P