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Lai HH, Krieger JN, Pontari MA, Buchwald D, Hou X, Landis JR; MAPP Research Network. Painful Bladder Filling and Painful Urgency Are Distinct Characteristics in Men and Women with Urologic Chronic Pelvic Pain Syndromes – A MAPP Research Network Study. Urol. 2015 Jul 17. pii: S0022-5347(15)04413-4. doi: 10.1016/j.juro.2015.05.105. [Epub ahead of print]

This study demonstrated that patients who experience painful bladder filling or painful urgency had more severe urologic symptoms compared with patients who do not have these symptoms. The study included 233 women and 191 men with either interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome (IC/BPS) or chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome. All patients completed a number of questionnaires, and notably, were asked whether they experienced painful urgency or painful filling. The number of patients experiencing one or both of these symptoms was 75% among the men, and 88% in the women. These patients not only had more severe urologic symptoms compared with patients reporting neither painful filling nor urgency, but also had more depression and worse quality of life. Men who had painful filling and/or urgency were more likely to have symptom flares, sensitivity to pain, and irritable bowel syndrome versus men with neither; and women with painful filling and/or urgency were more likely to report chronic fatigue syndrome. Taken together, these finding suggest that there may be unique subsets of chronic pelvic pain syndrome associated with more severe symptoms.