Rare diseases · Sign or symptom
Urinary urgency
Overactive bladder
HP:0000012
What it means
Urge incontinence is the strong, sudden need to urinate.
Urinary urgency is the strong, sudden need to urinate and is usually due to bladder spasms or contractions. This symptom is suggestive of, but not necessarily conclusive for urodynamically demonstrable detrusor hyperactivity.
In everyday care
Most people with this sign do not have a rare disease — it appears in common conditions far more often. These general reference pages cover the same topic:
Rare diseases that can present with this28
Common30–79%
14- Autosomal dominant spastic paraplegia type 10
- Autosomal dominant spastic paraplegia type 12
- Autosomal dominant spastic paraplegia type 36
- Autosomal dominant spastic paraplegia type 4
- Autosomal dominant spastic paraplegia type 41
- Autosomal dominant spastic paraplegia type 73
- Autosomal dominant spastic paraplegia type 8
- Autosomal recessive spastic ataxia with leukoencephalopathy
- Friedreich ataxia
- Hinman syndrome
- Primary lateral sclerosis
- Spastic paraplegia type 7
- Spinocerebellar ataxia type 25
- Spinocerebellar ataxia type 42
Sometimes5–29%
11- Adrenomyeloneuropathy
- Adult-onset autosomal dominant leukodystrophy
- Alström syndrome
- Ataxia with vitamin E deficiency
- Autosomal dominant spastic paraplegia type 13
- Autosomal dominant spastic paraplegia type 3
- Autosomal dominant spastic paraplegia type 37
- Autosomal dominant spastic paraplegia type 9A
and 3 more in this range
The range is how often this sign appears among people diagnosed with each disease — it is not a probability of having any of them. Many of these signs also occur in common, non-rare conditions. A sign on this page is a conversation to have with a clinician, not a conclusion.
Part of the broader category
Also called: Overactive bladder syndrome · Urgency frequency syndrome · Urgent micturition
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Start free with EleplanThis page uses the Human Phenotype Ontology (2026-06-23) — Human Phenotype Ontology Consortium, hpo.jax.org. Disease associations from Orphanet (INSERM), CC BY 4.0. Content is educational and is not medical advice.