Lower urinary tract symptoms in pregnancy.

Lower urinary tract symptoms are almost universal in the antenatal period and in most cases are transient. Retention of urine is one of the few conditions which must be treated as there may be long-term consequences. The symptoms of frequency and stress incontinence are those which have been most examined in pregnancy. It would appear that the former have no long-term sequelae but the latter may be an indicator of potential sphincter damage during delivery. The recent documentation of detrusor instability antenatally further confuses the picture and demonstrates the need for functional studies to determine the exact significance of these lower urinary tract symptoms.