Are Statin Medications Associated with Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms in Men and Women? Results from the Boston Area Community Health (BACH) Survey

PurposeStatins may ameliorate lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) through anti-inflammatory or other pathways. We investigated the association between statin use and storage, voiding, and overall LUTS symptoms.MethodsThe Boston Area Community Health Survey is an epidemiologic study of Boston, MA residents (2301 men; 3202 women) 30–79 years of age. LUTS, voiding, and storage symptoms were ascertained through an interviewer-administered questionnaire and defined as scores of greater than or equal to 8, greater than or equal to 5, and greater than or equal to 4, respectively, on relevant components of the American Urologic Association Symptom Index. Participants were included if they had a history of provider-diagnosed high cholesterol or recently used statin medications (n = 1346). Associations were estimated using odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) from multivariate logistic regression.ResultsIn multivariate models, statin use had no association with LUTS (OR = 1.03, 95% CI: 0.70, 1.51) among women. No associations were observed for any LUTS among younger (<60) men, but among older (60+) men, we observed significant inverse associations for voiding (OR = 0.23, 95% CI: 0.08, 0.66), storage (OR = 0.24, 95% CI: 0.11, 0.56), and overall LUTS (OR = 0.15, 95% CI: 0.05, 0.44).ConclusionsOur results suggest that use of statins is associated with a lower prevalence of urologic symptoms among older men but not among women or younger men.