The Relationship between Nocturia, Sleep Quality and Daytime Energy among Community Dwelling Older Adults

Nocturia is one of the greatest disruptive lower urinary tract symptoms and among the prime sources of disturbed sleep in the elderly. By splitting the sleep cycle, it adversely influences the quality of sleep and subsequently is associated with daytime exhaustion. Even with the highly disrupting nature of nocturia, geriatric sufferers often do not seek medical attention, viewing it as an expected result of aging or being too ashamed to discuss it. Objective: Determine the relationship between nocturia, sleep quality and day time energy among community dwelling older adults. Setting: Seven outpatient clinics in the main university hospital in Alexandria, Egypt. Subjects: A convenience sample of 130 geriatric patients with nocturia. Tools: Socio-demographic and clinical data structured interview schedule of geriatric patients, sleep quality and day time energy of geriatric patients with nocturia structured interview schedule. Results: 46.9 and 31.5% of elders with nocturia had fairly good and poor SQ respectively, poor and moderate level of day time energy represented 39.2 and 33.1% respectively. A positive statistical significant relation was observed between sleep quality and day time energy of geriatric patients with nocturia. Frequency and duration of nocturia was significantly associated with sleep quality and day time energy. Conclusion: The more the number of nocturnal voids the poorer the sleep quality and the lower the daytime energy. Recommendations: Health care providers should regularly assess those patients at-risk for nocturia and use it as a screen test for predicting other serious medical disorders.