Low Salt Intake Reduces Excessive Urination At Night

High salt intake effectively reduces the night voiding frequency in nocturia as per a study at the Nagasaki University Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Nagasaki, Japan, published in the journal Neurology and Urodynamics.

Nocturia is a condition where excessive urge to urinate wakes a person up during the night. It may be due to varied reasons ranging from high fluid intake, sleep disorders to bladder obstruction.

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The International Continence Society defines nocturia as “the complaint that the individual has to wake at night one or more times to urinate.” It affects the quality of sleep.

‘High salt intake effectively reduces the night voiding frequency in nocturia. This results in improvement of symptoms like urgency, the diurnal frequency with significant improvement in the quality of life of the affected ones.’

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Nocturia is a highly prevalent yet underreported, under-treated, and poorly managed lower urinary tract symptom (LUTS). It equally affects both men and women of all ages, with higher rates in older populations.

Hence understanding the etiology, burden and the most effective methods for diagnosing, assessing, and treating nocturia is essential that physicians and other healthcare professionals.

Salt Restriction in Nocturia

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Nocturnal polyuria refers to increased urine output during night, without an associated increase in the normal 24 hour urine output.

To derive a clear picture of the treatment strategies, the researchers assessed the efficacy of salt reduction for improving nocturia in 321 patients with the high salt intake (8 grams per day for men and 7 grams or more per day for women) and nocturia.

The investigators of this prospective study had instructed the patients on salt intake restriction and to use a brochure for salt intake restriction via interview once every four weeks. Spot urine specimens were utilized to estimate the daily salt intake.

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Hypertension Alert: Taking more trips to the toilet in the middle of the night to urinate could be a sign of high blood pressure. So, make sure to consult your doctor to check your blood pressure (BP) and salt intake.

It was noted that almost 223 (69.5%) patients who successfully decreased their daily salt intake (Sgroup) had improvement in their nocturia and nocturnal polyuria index (NPi). While 98 (30.5%) patients who did not restrict their daily salt intake (F group) had no improvements in any symptoms, during the study period.

In the Core Lower Urinary Tract Symptom Score (CLSS) of the S group, the team demonstrated improvement in urgency, diurnal frequency, and also nocturia with significant improvement in the quality of life.

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"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", concluded the authors of the study.

Source-Medindia