Research

Interstitial cystitis/bladder pain syndrome (IC/BPS) and chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CP/CPPS) are common, chronic conditions characterized by persistent bladder or pelvic pain and urinary symptoms. The causes of these two debilitating conditions are poorly understand and their diagnosis and management are challenging. The Multidisciplinary Approach to the Study of Chronic Pelvic Pain (MAPP) Research Network was established in 2008 to help understand the underlying causes and natural history of these two conditions. As a Project Leader within the Network, Dr. Sutcliffe leads efforts to better describe and identify the causes of symptom exacerbations (flares) and variability in patients’ symptoms. Her work includes studies nested within the Trans-MAPP Epidemiology and Phenotyping Study, a 1-year longitudinal cohort study of 424 IC/BPS and CP/CPPS patients; the Symptom Patterns Study, a 3-year longitudinal cohort study of 620 patients that recently concluded; and a multi-site, qualitative focus group study.

Funder: NIDDK

Although lower urinary tract symptoms affect almost half of American women, little is known about how to prevent them. As a site PI within the NIDDK-sponsored Prevention of Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms (PLUS) Research Consortium, Dr. Sutcliffe leads studies to quantify the burden of LUTS and poor bladder health in American women, and to understand their underlying causes. She is currently co-leading the development of a large, community-based cohort study of bladder health, the RISE FOR HEALTH study, set to begin in 2022. This study will investigate novel risk and protective factors for bladder health in women, and estimate the distribution of bladder health in the general female US population, using a newly developed measure of bladder health.

 

Funder: NIDDK

Although most epidemiologic research on prostate cancer focuses on risk factors in mid- to later-life, the prostate gland may be as or more susceptible to these factors during earlier periods of rapid growth and development, such as gestation and adolescence. Over the past 20 years, Dr. Sutcliffe has used life-course epidemiologic approaches to study possible early-life risk factors for prostate cancer, including hormonal, infectious, and inflammatory factors. She has studied these possible risk factors in numerous large cohort studies, including the Health Professionals Follow-up Study, the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study, the Longitudinal Studies of Child Health and Development, and the Department of Defense Serum Repository.

Dr. Sutcliffe leads the NIDDK-sponsored T32 program in Clinical Outcomes Research Training in Women’s Health with a Focus on Female Lower Urinary Tract Disorders, together with Dr. Jerry Lowder in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology. This innovative T32 program trains PhD post-doctoral fellows and MD clinical fellows to conduct high-quality prevention and health outcomes research on topics related to women’s health, such as childbirth-related injury, incontinence, recurrent urinary tract infections, pelvic pain, and other urologic and gynecologic conditions. For more information about this program, please review the T32 website (FPMRS T32 link) and contact Dr. Sutcliffe (sutcliffes@wustl.edu) with any inquiries.

Funder: NIDDK