Effects of aging on bladder

Growing old has various effects on various parts of the body. One such affected body part is the bladder. Ischemia is one such important disease that is seen in older people.

Bladder malfunctioning in old people might be because of detrusor uschemia. The blood flow that is happening to the bladder and detrusor function in the vivo and also in vitro in young rats when compared with few week older rats had very great difference. When the rats in various ages were studied there was considerable decrease in the blood flow as the bladder size increases. The voiding pressure of the larger bladder was also found to be lesser when compared in the older rats.

The main functions of the urinary bladder are storing urine and excreting the waste liquid at appropriate time. The symptoms of disorder are reduced bladder capacity, decrease in
Urinal flow rate, reduced urethral pressure, increase in the contractions, increased postvoid residual urine volume.

In young people, mostly the contractions will be blocked by spinal cord and controls of the brain, but usually the number of sporadic contractions that might be blocked increases with age. The amount of urine that can be stored in the bladder also increases leading to increased time intervals between urinating.

Aging effects are more on women especially related to bladder. In women, the urethra tends to shorten and also the lining becomes thinner. These adverse effects on the urethra also decrease the ability of the urinary sphincter as well. The urinary sphincter tends to close more tightly. The effect of these changes in the women’s body is also because of the decrease in the estrogen level in the body especially after menopause.