Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms in Adult Females after Feminizing Genitoplasty for Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia
Abstract
PURPOSE: To investigate quality of life, long-term lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS), sexual function and subjective attitudes towards surgery in adult women after feminizing genitoplasty (FG) for congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH). MATERIALS AND METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed the medical files of all patients with CAH who underwent FG from 1996 to 2018 in our tertiary center.
Of those, patients older than 16 years of age were asked to answer one non-validated and three standardized and validated questionnaires evaluating their current mental well-being (WHO-5 Well-Being Index), LUTS (ICIQ-FLUTS) and sexual function (GRISS). The anonymized answers of this cross-sectional study were compared to a control group of 50 healthy females.
Student's t-test, Pearson's χ(2) test, Fisher's exact test and Spearman's rank correlation coefficient were performed. A p-value less than 0.05 was considered significant.
RESULTS: Out of 106 patients who underwent FG, 64 patients were included and 32 patients, aged 17 to 40 years (median 25.5 years), answered the questionnaires (50% response rate). The difference between CAH and control group mental well-being was not statistically significant (WHO-5 median score 60 and 64, respectively; p=0.82).
We found no significant difference in the LUTS subscales of filling, voiding or incontinence, and nor in the overall LUTS score (ICIQ-FLUTS overall median score 3.5 and 3, respectively; p=0.43). CONCLUSIONS: We found in our group no abnormal mental well-being or prevalence of long-term symptoms of lower urinary tract dysfunction in adult female patients with CAH following FG.