Signs and Symptoms of Detrusor Underactivity: An Analysis of Clinical Presentation and Urodynamic Tests From a Large Group of Patients Undergoing Pressure Flow Studies

Background: The clinical diagnosis of detrusor underactivity (DU) is hampered by the need for invasive pressure flow studies (PFS) in combination with a lack of knowledge of the associated signs and symptoms. This has contributed to a lack of awareness of DU and underactive bladder, and to the assumption that symptoms are always due to bladder outlet obstruction (BOO).

Objective: To investigate the signs and symptoms recorded in a large urodynamic database of patients who met the diagnoses of DU, BOO, and normal, to identify the clinical features associated with DU.

Design, setting, and participants: From the database of 28282 adult PFS records, 1788 patients were classified into: (1) those with DU without BOO; (2) those with BOO without DU; and (3) those with normal PFS.

Results: Patients with DU reported a statistically significantly higher occurrence of decreased and/or interrupted urinary stream, hesitancy, feeling of incomplete bladder emptying, palpable bladder, and absent and/or decreased sensation compared with patients with normal PFS. Other differences were found between men with DU and BOO, and between women with DU and normal PFS.

Conclusions: There are signs and symptoms that can distinguish DU patients from patients with normal PFS and further distinguish between DU and BOO, which is traditionally invasively diagnosed. This is a first step to better understand the clinical presentation of DU patients, is consistent with the recent underactive bladder working definition, and justifies further exploration of the signs and symptoms of DU.

Patient summary: The clinical diagnosis of detrusor underactivity is hampered by the need for invasive urodynamics in combination with a lack of knowledge of the associated signs and symptoms. This study has shown that there are signs and symptoms that can distinguish men and women patients with DU from patients with either normal urodynamic studies or with BOO.