More than a quarter of the adult American population experiences either physical or sexual abuse along their lifetime. And age does not count: about 25 % of the women older than 65 have been the victims of physical, sexual or psychological violence inside their couple.

There is a powerful link between an array of gastroenterologic (stomach and gut) and genitourinary symptoms and abuse. Researches made in the last years revealed that even paternal rejection and hostility have been connected to conditions irritable bowel syndrome.

A team led by Carol Link from the New England Research Institutes in Massachusetts and the University of Virginia processed information gathered from the Boston Area Community Health (BACH) survey for a community-based epidemiologic research of various urologic (urine related) issues and possible causing elements that could affect urinary frequency (33% of BACH population), urgency (12%), and nocturia (excessive night urination) (28%).

The researchers focused on the connection between sexual, physical, or emotional abuse the individuals experienced either during childhood or adolescent/adult state with these urinary issues and how much the connection could be cause-effect. The team discovered that various types of abuses had the same rate (with an overall average of approximately 20%) as found by other researches made in US, but the rate of urinary frequency, urgency, and nocturia was much increased in the category of the abused individuals.

The connection was strong for all three urologic issues, regardless of the nature of the abuse (sexual, physical, or emotional). Still, childhood and adult emotional were linked to an increased urinary frequency. The presence of all three symptoms was found to rise up in strong association with the rate of each type of abuse. "Current symptoms of urinary frequency, urgency, and nocturia are associated with previously experienced sexual, physical, and emotional abuse for both men and women and for three race/ethnic groups.", wrote the researchers, pointing towards a cause-effect link.