Retrospective Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2023. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Nov 26, 2023; 11(33): 7987-7993
Published online Nov 26, 2023. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v11.i33.7987
Prolonged impacts of COVID-19-associated cystitis: A study on long-term consequences
Sophie Wittenberg, Jack Vercnocke, Michael Chancellor, Sorabh Dhar, Aron Liaw, Steven Lucas, Nivedita Dhar
Sophie Wittenberg, Jack Vercnocke, Aron Liaw, Steven Lucas, Department of Urology, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, MI 48201, United States
Michael Chancellor, Department of Urology, Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak, MI 48067, United States
Sorabh Dhar, Infectious Disease, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, MI 48201, United States
Sorabh Dhar, Infectious Disease, John D. Dingell VA Medical Center, Detroit, MI 48201, United States
Sorabh Dhar, Infectious Disease, Detroit Medical Center, Detroit, MI 48201, United States
Aron Liaw, Steven Lucas, Nivedita Dhar, Department of Urology, John D. Dingell VA Medical Center, Detroit, MI 48201, United States
Nivedita Dhar, Department of Urology, Detroit Medical Center, Detroit, MI 48201, United States
Author contributions: Wittenberg S, Vercnocke J, Chancellor M, and Dhar S contributed to design, data collection, analysis and interpretation of results, and manuscript preparation; Liaw A and Lucas S contributed to analysis and interpretation of results and manuscript prep; Dhar N contributed to study conception, design, data collection, analysis and interpretation of results, and manuscript preparation.
Institutional review board statement: The study was reviewed and approved by the Wayne State University Institutional Review Board (Protocol Number: IRB-20-04-2126).
Informed consent statement: All study participants or their legal guardian provided informed written consent about personal and medical data collection prior to study enrolment.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors have no relevant conflict of interests to disclose.
Data sharing statement: The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Nivedita Dhar, MD, Doctor, Department of Urology, John D. Dingell VA Medical Center, 4646 John R Street, Detroit, MI 48201, United States. ec0362@wayne.edu
Received: August 28, 2023
Peer-review started: August 28, 2023
First decision: November 1, 2023
Revised: November 6, 2023
Accepted: November 17, 2023
Article in press: November 17, 2023
Published online: November 26, 2023
Processing time: 88 Days and 8 Hours
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research perspectives

We believe these findings can reassure patients regarding new onset or worsening urinary symptoms in the setting of long coronavirus disease (COVID). Although, additional research needs to be performed to further investigate the impact of COVID-19 on urological health.

Research conclusions

To our knowledge this is the first study to report long term follow up of patients with COVID-associated cystitis (CAC). Our results suggest a promising prognosis of these patients when managed conservatively.

Research results

Of the 350 participants included in this study, 310 patients (87%) reported improvement in their urinary symptoms at 21-28 mo following their COVID-19 hospitalization discharge. Of those, the patients with new onset CAC symptoms displayed a decrease of 9-10 points in the overactive bladder (OAB) and quality of life scores and 95.4% of these patients reported symptom improvement at follow-up. On the other hand, patients who previously experienced symptoms of OAB had a score decrease of 6 points and 60.7% of these patients had symptomatic improvement at follow-up.

Research methods

We prospectively evaluated a cohort of 350 patients who were previously hospitalized for COVID-19 between May and December 2020. These patients were included in the study if they displayed any CAC symptoms following their hospital discharge. Patients were evaluated using surveys that assessed their urinary symptoms as well as their quality of life at two time points; 10-14 wk following discharge and 21-28 wk following discharge. Their symptoms were managed using conservative measures such as behavior modification and standard OAB medications.

Research objectives

We aimed to evaluate a cohort of 350 patients for new or worsening OAB symptoms using OAB survey based results 21-28 mo following their COVID-19 hospitalization.

Research motivation

There have been early observational studies that suggest COVID-19 can manifest as urologic symptoms including urinary frequency, urgency, and nocturia which has been CAC. We recently described the results of OAB on a cohort of 350 patients who report new or worsening OAB symptoms 10-14 wk following their COVID-19 hospitalization, but there is little known regarding the management and long-term outcomes of CAC.

Research background

COVID-19 is an infection caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus that has caused over 100 million cases and over 1 millions deaths in the United States since its identification in late 2019. There are many symptoms attributed to COVID-19 and multiple organ systems are known to be impacted including urologic manifestations. Little is known regarding long term manifestations and the impact of COVID-19 on the urologic system.