Salt restriction may help ease excessive urination at night, claims Study
Nocturia is a highly prevalent lower urinary tract symptom (LUTS) that equally affects both men and women of all ages, with higher rates in older populations. A recent study recommends the high salt intakers with nocturia, to reduce the salt intake which inturns effectively reduces the night voiding frequency. The study findings were published in the journal Neurology and Urodynamics on February 01, 2021.
Although very common, nocturia remains an underreported, under-treated and poorly managed medical and social problem in adults. It is essential that physicians and other healthcare professionals understand the aetiology, burden and the most effective methods for diagnosing, assessing and treating nocturia. However, the effect of salt intake on nocturia is understudied. To fill the knowledge gap, researchers of the Nagasaki University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Nagasaki, Japan, conducted a study, to assess the efficacy of salt reduction for improving nocturia in patients with high salt intake.
It was a prospective study on 321 patients with nocturia and excessive salt intake (8 grams per day for men and 7 grams or more per day for women). The investigators instructed patients on salt intake restriction. Patients were instructed to use a brochure for salt intake restriction via interview once every four weeks. They estimated the daily salt intake using spot urine specimens.
Key findings of the study were:
• Among 321 patients, the researchers noted that 223 (69.5%) successfully decreased their daily salt intake (S group) and 98 (30.5%) did not (F group).
• In the S group, they observed that the nocturia improved from 2.3 ± 0.9 to 1.4 ± 1.0, and nocturnal polyuria index (NPi) improved from 30.2 ± 7.5 to 27.7 ± 7.3%.
• In the Core Lower Urinary Tract Symptom Score (CLSS) of the S group, they noted improvement in Q3 (urgency) from 1.0 ± 1.0 to 0.9 ± 1.0 (P = 0.001); the also noted an improvement in Q1 (diurnal frequency) and Q2 (nocturia).
• Moreover, they reported significant improvement in the quality of life.
• They also noted that patients in the F group did not have improvements in any symptom, during the study period.
The authors concluded, "Patients with nocturia who also have high salt intake should be advised to reduce their salt intake, as a lifestyle modification. Our results support the importance of randomized clinical trials with larger populations and the appropriate inclusion/exclusion criteria to conclude the clinical usefulness of salt reduction in this patient cohort."
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