Introduction and Objective:

Absence of the bulbocavernosus reflex (BCVR) has been observed even in neurologically-healthy subjects. Functional disorders of the pelvic floor should include its assessment.

The primary objective of the present study was to evaluate the absence of BCVR in healthy subjects. The secondary objective was to evaluate the BCVR with regards to the presence of other comorbidities, such as neurogenic bladder and type-2 diabetes mellitus.

Methods:

A descriptive and retrospective study in which we reviewed the clinical files of one thousand subjects who underwent an urodynamic study and were submitted to a mechanical exploration of the BCVR as part of a routine evaluation. Descriptive statistics were performed for the quantitative and qualitative variables using the Student t andthe Chi-squared tests accordingly. Values of p < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Results:

The sample had a mean age of 59.84 years (standard deviation [SD] ± 14.13 years), and it contained 36.19% of women and 21.13% of men without neurological disease and absent BCVR. A higher proportion of BCVR absence was observed in patients with neurological disease compared to their healthy counterparts: 21.6% and 10.6% respectively (p ≤ 0.0001); furthermore, an important absence of the BCVR was observed in patients with type-2 diabetes mellitus compared to non-diabetic patients: 30.8% and 18.8% respectively (p ≤ 0.0001). No statistically significant differences were observed in the group comparison regarding bladder dysfunction.

Conclusion:

The absence of the RBCV is not exclusive to a neurological disease with repercussions in terms of lower urinary tract symptoms, and the proportion of neurologically healthy subjects with absence of the BCVR is not negligible. No significant difference was found in groups with absence of the BCVR with regards to bladder dysfunction.

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