Relationship between Toe Temperature and Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms

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Hiroo INOUE, Osamu ISHIZUKA*, Tetsuya IMAMURA, Takahiro YAMAGISHI, Wataru NOGUCHI, Hitoshi YOKOYAMA, Yoshiki KURIZAKI, Osamu NISHIZAWA

Article first published online: 11 APR 2012   LUTS: Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms

DOI: 10.1111/j.1757-5672.2012.00151.x

Objective: Cold stress can elicit increases in urinary urgency and frequency. We determined if there was a relationship between finger and toe temperatures and lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS).

Methods: We studied 50 people who visited a public health management seminar. The participants were divided into two groups according to self-described sensitivity to cold stress. The cold non-sensitive (CNS) group consisted of 3 males and 20 females (66.9 ± 10.8 years old), and the cold sensitive (CS) group consisted of 4 males and 23 females (65.8 ± 8.01 years old). Each participant was assessed to determine international prostate symptom score (IPSS), overactive bladder symptom score (OABSS), and quality of life (QOL) score. They were then instructed on lifestyle changes and exercises that could improve peripheral blood flow and provide relief for their LUTS. Next, the temperatures of their middle fingers and toes were measured before and after 5–10 min of the exercises. Two weeks later, the IPSS, OABSS, and QOL scores were reassessed.

Results: Before exercise, the middle fingers were significantly warmer than the middle toes. Exercise had no significant effect on the middle finger temperature of either group; however, it did increase the middle toe temperature for both groups. The increase was greatest for the CS group. The CS group had higher LUTS storage symptoms than the CNS group, and these improved after 2 weeks of lifestyle changes and exercise.

Conclusion: Improvements in lifestyle and daily exercise may be effective for LUTS in CS people.