Lower urinary tract symptoms and diet quality: Findings from the 2000-2001 national health and nutrition examination survey

Objective: To evaluate the association between dietary quality and the prevalence of lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS). Methods: We used urinary symptom and dietary data obtained from the 2000-2001 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) for the study. Dietary quality was assessed using the 10-component United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Healthy Eating Index (HEI). We used bivariate methods to examine rates of LUTS among men with poor versus good diets. Multivariable logistic regression was used to calculate odds ratios after applying sample weights and controlling for age, race/ethnicity, smoking status, diabetes, alcohol intake, and exercise. Results: Our study cohort consisted of 1385 men aged <40 years, of whom 279 (21.1%) reported LUTS. We found higher rates of LUTS among men with poor dietary intake of dairy (22.4% vs 16.4%, P =.013) and among men with poor intake of protein (24.6% vs 17.9%, P =.012) as well as among those with overall poor diet (25.8 vs 17.8%, P =.018) with little dietary variety (26.1 vs 17.6%, P =.001). On multivariate analysis, an unhealthy diet (odds ratios [OR] = 1.7; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.05-2.90) was associated with more LUTS, whereas alcohol intake was protective from LUTS (OR = 0.67; 95% CI = 0.48-0.93). Conclusion: In an analysis of NHANES data, we found that poor diet quality was independently associated with patient-reported LUTS.