Do SSRI/SNRIs Affect Nighttime Urinary Frequency?

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and selective noradrenaline reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs) do not appear to significantly impact nocturnal urinary frequency, researchers from Albany Medical College, Albany, NY, reported. Findings from their study are published in Annals of Pharmacotherapy. 

 data have suggested an association between SSRI/SNRIs and urinary frequency. Boris I. Medarov, MD, and colleagues conducted a retrospective study to evaluate the affect of these agents on nocturnal urinary frequency.  They compared patients on SSRI or SNRI therapy vs. no therapy during nocturnal polysomnography in a  sleep center for a 14-month period. Of the 316 total patients studied, 94 were in the SSRI/SNRI group and 222 were controls. 

The study authors found no statistically significant difference in nocturnal urinary frequency between those on SSRI/SNRI therapy and the control group (0.40 vs. 0.34 bathroom visits per night; P=0.40). Urinary frequency was higher in patients taking sertraline (0.61 bathroom visits per night) vs. patients taking duloxetine (0.18 bathroom visits per night; 2-tailed P=0.04). Results from a post-hoc analysis showed that the difference between these two medications is a class effect (SSRIs vs. SNRIs; 2-tailed P=0.03). 

Dr. Medarov noted that the sample size did not allow for a conclusive comparison for either the SSRI or SNRI group versus the control group. As a whole, SSRI/SNRIs do not seem to significantly impact nocturnal frequency but “may have an opposite effect on nocturnal frequency.”

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