REVIEW article
Front. Nutr.
Sec. Clinical Nutrition
Sarcopenia and lower urinary tract diseases: links, mechanisms, and clinical implications
Provisionally accepted
- The First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, China
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Lower urinary tract diseases (LUTDs), including lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS), overactive bladder (OAB), urinary incontinence (UI), bladder cancer (BC), prostate cancer (PCa), and benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), severely impair the quality of life of the elderly. Emerging evidence highlights a strong association between sarcopenia (progressive loss of muscle mass, strength, and function) and the prevalence, severity, and progression of LUTDs, as well as poorer treatment responses in affected patients—though most supporting studies are cross-sectional or retrospective, with prospective trials needed to confirm causality. Potential mechanisms linking sarcopenia to LUTDs include pelvic floor muscle weakening, neuromuscular dysfunction, metabolic/endocrine disturbances, genetic factors, and gut microbiome dysregulation. Clinically, interventions such as resistance exercise, nutritional support, gut microbiome-targeted strategies, pelvic floor training, and pharmacological therapies show promise in mitigating LUTDs symptoms by targeting sarcopenia. Integrating sarcopenia assessment into LUTDs management could improve patient care; future research should prioritize large-scale prospective trials to validate causal relationships, clarify key mediating mechanisms (e.g., specific gut microbial taxa, neuromuscular signaling pathways), and develop personalized intervention protocols tailored to distinct LUTD subtypes and patient characteristics.
Keywords: Sarcopenia, Lower Urinary Tract Diseases (LUTDs), pelvic floor dysfunction, Resistance exercise, therapy, Frailty, Neoplasms, Pelvic Floor
Received: 13 Sep 2025; Accepted: 10 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Liu, Cao, Wang, Li, Liang, Feng, Gao, Wang and Lian. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Xin Lian, lianxin@jlu.edu.cn
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