# Evaluation of genetic and metabolic markers in the development of urinary urgency incontinence

> **NIH NIH R03** · CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY · 2024 · $82,884

## Abstract

Project Summary:
Urinary urgency incontinence (UUI) is one of the most common conditions to impact women,
and older women, in particular. When comparing women with and without urgency incontinence,
those with UUI have lower quality of life scores and higher rates of anxiety and depression.
While the incidence and prevalence of UUI has been well studied, the pathophysiology of the
disease is poorly understood. In the majority of cases, UUI is classified as idiopathic or “age-
related”. In these cases, there are likely numerous genetic, environmental, dietary, metabolic
and clinical factors and inter-factor interactions that lead to the development of UUI and these
interactions likely center around the disturbance of normal neural signaling which controls
micturition. Improving our understanding of how UUI develops in women without an overt clinical
condition and how the cholinergic signaling system is involved will likely contribute to an
individualized treatment paradigm for managing UUI as well as the development of novel
treatments. In this proposal we will use the robust longitudinal data present in the Nurses’
Health Study (NHS) and NHS II to classify the plasma levels of cholinergic metabolites in
women with and without. We will investigate whether non-cholinergic metabolites and single
nucleotide polymorphisms for UUI lead to this condition and how interactions between these
variables and cholinergic metabolites and clinical and demographic risk factors lead to the
development of UUI. We will also evaluate how dietary choline impacts the presence of
cholinergic metabolites, and whether this interaction is associated with expression of the UUI
phenotype.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10772084
- **Project number:** 5R03AG077132-02
- **Recipient organization:** CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** DAVID SHEYN
- **Activity code:** R03 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $82,884
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2023-02-01 → 2024-11-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10772084

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10772084, Evaluation of genetic and metabolic markers in the development of urinary urgency incontinence (5R03AG077132-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10772084. Licensed CC0.

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