Reports on Spinal Cord Injury Findings from University of Southern California (USC) Provide New Insights (The Role of Health Insurance In Patient Reported Satisfaction With Bladder Management In Neurogenic Lower Urinary Tract Dysfunction Due To …)

2021 JAN 11 (NewsRx) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Insurance Daily News -- Investigators discuss new findings in Central Nervous System Diseases and Conditions - Spinal Cord Injury. According to news originating from Los Angeles, California, by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, “Neurogenic lower urinary tract dysfunction is a significant source of morbidity for individuals with spinal cord injury and is managed with a range of treatment options that differ in efficacy, tolerability and cost. The effect of insurance coverage on bladder management, symptoms and quality of life is not known.”

Financial support for this research came from University of Utah Study Design and Biostatistics Center.

Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from the University of Southern California (USC), “We hypothesized that private insurance is associated with fewer bladder symptoms and better quality of life. This is a cross-sectional, retrospective analysis of 1,226 surveys collected as part of the prospective Neurogenic Bladder Research Group SCI Registry. We included patients with complete insurance information, which was classified as private or public insurance. The relationship between insurance and bladder management, bladder symptoms and quality of life was modeled using multinomial logistic regression analysis. Spinal cord injury quality of life was measured by the Neurogenic Bladder Symptom Score. We identified 654 privately insured and 572 publicly insured individuals. The demographics of these groups differed by race, education, prevalence of chronic pain and bladder management. Publicly insured patients were more likely to be treated with indwelling catheters or spontaneous voiding and less likely to take bladder medication compared to those with private insurance. On multivariate analysis insurance type was not associated with differences in bladder symptoms (total Neurogenic Bladder Symptom Score) or in urinary quality of life. There is an association between insurance coverage and the type of bladder management used following spinal cord injury, as publicly insured patients are more likely to be treated with indwelling catheters.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “However, insurance status, controlling for bladder management, did not impact bladder symptoms or quality of life.”

This research has been peer-reviewed.

For more information on this research see: The Role of Health Insurance In Patient Reported Satisfaction With Bladder Management In Neurogenic Lower Urinary Tract Dysfunction Due To Spinal Cord Injury. The Journal of Urology, 2021;205(1):213-218. The Journal of Urology can be contacted at: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Two Commerce Sq, 2001 Market St, Philadelphia, PA 19103, USA.

The news correspondents report that additional information may be obtained from Temitope Rude, University of Southern California (USC), Los Angeles, CA 90007, United States. Additional authors for this research include David A. Ginsberg, Odinachi Moghalu, Sara Lenherr, Jeremy B. Myers, John Stoffel, Sean Elliott, Blayne Welk and Angela P. Presson.

The direct object identifier (DOI) for that additional information is: https://doi.org/10.1097/JU.0000000000001346. This DOI is a link to an online electronic document that is either free or for purchase, and can be your direct source for a journal article and its citation.

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