Urine nerve growth factor level and relation with overactive bladder disease symptoms

Background: High levels of nerve growth factor in urine and bladder tissue is associated with the pathologies of lower urinary tract such as bladder outlet obstruction, over aktive bladder, painful bladder syndrom and interstitial cystitis. In our study we aimed to compare the nerve growth factor creatinine (NGF/cre) level between the control and over active bladder (OAB) patients, and to determine the correlation between NGF / cre level and body mass index (BMI), age, OAB types (dry and wet) and symptom scores (OAB-V8, ICI-SF). Urinary NGF levels were measured in control group, dry and wet OAB patients. Material and Methods: Twenty-seven women with a diagnosis of overactive bladder disease and 26 people in the control group were enrolled in this prospective controlled study. Urinary NGF levels were measured by ELISA method. NGF level were normalized by proportioning the NGF levels to urine creatinine (ng / mg Cre). Urinary NGF / cre level of patients were compared with the control group, as well as in patient group relationship between NGF / cre level and BMI, age, OAB subtypes and symptom scores were evaluated. Results: Urinary NGF/Cr levels were significantly elevated in patients with OAB (0,40±0,4) compared to the controls (0.14 ± 0.08) (p=0.0001). Mean NGF/cre level in patients under the age of 55 was 0,37±0,4, while the mean NGF/cre level in patients over the age of 55 was 0,44±0,41 (p=0,904). There was no significant difference of serum NGF/cre levels in patients with BMI 20-30 (0,27±0,26) and BMI over the 30 (0,52±0,48) (p=0,062). Althought the mean NGF/cre level in dry-OAB patients and wet-OAB patient was respectively 0,28±0,12 and 0,42±0,43, there was no statistically significant difference between two groups’(wet-dry) median values of the NGF/cre levels (p=0,0.918). Conclusions: Patients with overactive bladder had significantly higher urinary nerve growth factor levels compared to the control group. Urinary nerve growth factor levels could be a potential biomarker for the diagnosis of overactive bladder