Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of the Association between Vitamin D Status and Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms

Purpose: Cumulative studies have shown that vitamin D may be associated with lower urinary tract symptoms but the findings have been inconsistent. The aim of this study was to systematically evaluate the relationship between vitamin D and lower urinary tract symptoms. Materials and Methods: The PubMed (R), Scopus (R) and Embase (TM) databases were searched for articles up to June 2020. A meta-analysis was conducted to evaluate the effects of vitamin D insufficiency or intake on lower urinary tract symptoms. A qualitative description summarized vitamin D intervention for treating lower urinary tract symptoms. Sensitivity analysis was conducted to examine heterogeneity and the robustness of the results. Results: A total of 23 studies including 86,332 participants were analyzed in our study. Vitamin D insufficiency was associated with a 1.37-fold to 2.06-fold increased likelihood of having lower urinary tract symptoms, and patients with lower urinary tract symptoms had significantly lower levels of vitamin D. Furthermore, vitamin D intake was significantly associated with an 11% reduction in the risk of lower urinary tract symptoms. In the subgroup analysis, the effects of vitamin D insufficiency on the risk of lower urinary tract symptoms were notably observed in nonAsians, females and patients with urinary incontinence. Conclusions: Consistent results indicated that vitamin D insufficiency was a crucial risk factor for lower urinary tract symptoms and that vitamin D supplementation showed promising effects on these symptoms. It would be of great guiding significance to consider vitamin D status when treating lower urinary tract symptoms.

Automated summary

This study found that vitamin D insufficiency is associated with lower urinary tract symptoms and that vitamin D intake can reduce the risk of these symptoms, especially in non-Asians, females, and patients with urinary incontinence.