FRIDAY, Feb. 20, 2026 (HealthDay News) -- Patients undergoing gender-affirming vaginoplasty experience worsening of overactive bladder (OAB) with respect to their health-related quality of life (HRQoL), according to a study published online Feb. 6 in Urology.
Patrick Ho, M.D., from Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City, and colleagues conducted a retrospective longitudinal study examining changes in OAB symptoms in 53 transgender women undergoing vaginoplasty. To assess urinary symptoms before and after vaginoplasty, the 19-question Overactive Bladder Questionnaire Short-Form (OAB-q SF) was completed and the medians of OAB-q SF scores, including Symptom Bother and HRQoL subscores, were measured.
There was a median of 29 weeks from surgery to postoperative questionnaire. The researchers found that overall, 53, 21, 15, and 11 percent of participants underwent peritoneal flap vaginoplasty (PFV), penile inversion vaginoplasty, minimal depth vaginoplasty, and sigmoid vaginoplasty, respectively. Significant declines in HRQoL were noted postoperatively for all patients (96.9 versus 93.8/100). The oldest quartile of patients (44 to 71 years) experienced the largest worsening of Symptom Bother (6.7 versus 20/100) and HRQoL (96.9 versus 90.8/100), when stratified by age. PFV led to a significant decrease in HRQoL (96.9 versus 93.8/100) when stratified by vaginoplasty type.
"In a subset of patients who underwent PFV, symptoms worsened more than in those who underwent other forms of vaginoplasty," the authors write. "Similarly, older patients experienced worse symptoms postoperatively than younger patients. However, the clinical significance of these symptom changes are unclear."