What is the cause of increased nocturia in the elderly? Doctor: Most of them are related to 4 diseases, so be vigilant!

If you live with the elderly at home, you will find that the elderly wake up more often, even about 3 times.

　　Many people think that nocturnal urination in the elderly is a natural phenomenon, but in fact this perception is very one-sided. The frequent nocturia in the elderly can be divided into two aspects, the first is the increase of physiological nocturia, and the second is the increase of pathological nocturia.

　　Physiological nocturia refers to frequent nocturia due to the influence of diet. For example, the elderly eat a lot of food with more water content at dinner, have the habit of drinking water and tea before going to bed, or add water to dry mouth at night . Due to the extremely low activity at night, less water evaporates from sweat and breath , which naturally turns into urine, resulting in frequent nocturia.

　　Pathological nocturia is associated with the following diseases:

1. Prostatic hyperplasia

　　This is a common disease that appears in middle-aged and elderly men, and its onset is related to multiple factors such as increasing age, environment, and smoking . After the onset of the disease, the most typical symptom of the patient is frequent urination, the frequency of nocturia increases significantly , but the amount of urination each time is not much.

Patients also develop chronic urinary retention　　when the detrusor of the bladder is decompensated . The effective capacity of the bladder becomes smaller and the interval between urinations becomes shorter . If the patient also has bladder stones, infection and other problems at the same time, the symptoms of frequent urination are more obvious , and the patient is prone to dysuria;

2. Cystitis

　　Nearly 60% of elderly women have increased nocturia, which is related to pathological changes in the bladder and urethra in old age . After entering old age, due to the continuous contraction of the detrusor muscle of the bladder , problems such as hypertrophy and loss of elasticity gradually appeared, chronic edema and inflammation of the bladder neck, and frequent urination occurred in severe long-term irritation .

　　Moreover, after complete menopause, estrogen levels become lower and lower in women, which is not only prone to senile vaginitis, but also may be combined with chronic urethritis , followed by urinary tract irritation and urinary retention;

3. Kidney disease

　　Whether it is primary chronic kidney disease or secondary kidney disease caused by factors such as hypertension and diabetes, patients may experience increased nocturia in the early stage of the disease .

　　Because the kidney is the organ that produces urine originally, when the kidney becomes diseased, its ability to produce and concentrate urine will continue to decline . Especially when the renal tubules are severely damaged, although the original urine can be generated, it cannot be further concentrated, and the patient may have frequent nocturia symptoms;

4. Diabetes

　　When the blood sugar level of the patient is still too high and exceeds the renal glucose threshold (8.89-10.0 mmol/L) , in the process of passing through the kidney, a large amount of glucose is filtered out through the glomerulus, and the glucose cannot be reabsorbed by the renal tubule . Then it develops into osmotic diuresis , which is commonly known as the symptoms of urine sugar.

　　Under normal circumstances, the more blood sugar exceeds the standard, the more urine sugar will be excreted and the larger the urine volume will be . The patient's urine output in 24 hours can even reach about 5000~10000ml .

　　In addition to the above four diseases, if the elderly suffer from heart disease, malignant tumors of the urinary system, malignant tumors of the reproductive tract, etc., it may affect urination.

　　If the elderly people have frequent nocturia recently, which has affected their normal sleep and life, no matter how they adjust their diet, it is not relieved. This may be a signal that the disease has found itself. Patients need to be vigilant and seek medical attention in time for relevant screening.