Jerry G. Blaivas ¹, Jeffrey P. Weiss ¹, Georgia Panagopoulos ², David C. Chaikin ¹, Chandra Somaroo ³

¹ Weill Medical College of Cornell University, New York, NY

² Lenox Hill Hospital, New York, NY

³ Institute for Bladder and Prostate Research, New York, NY

Introduction and Objective: To describe the validation of a new overactive bladder questionnaire (OABQ) and severity score (OABSS)

Methods: 225 subjects at 3 centers completed a questionnaire comprised of the following five fixed format and one global ten-point question:
A. What is the reason that you usually urinate? (convenience, mild, moderate, severe, desperate urge)
B. Once you get the urge to urinate, how long can you usually postpone it comfortably? (more than 60 min, about 30-60 min, about 10-30 min, less than 10 min, must go immediately).
C. How often do you get a sudden urge to urinate that makes you want to stop what you are doing and rush to the bathroom? (Never, rarely, a few times a month, a few times a week, daily).
D. How often do you get a sudden urge to urinate that makes you want to stop what you are doing and rush to the bathroom but you don’t get there in time (e.g. you leak)? (Never, rarely, a few times a month, a few times a week, daily).
E. In your opinion how good is your bladder control? (0 (perfect) to 10 (no control at all))

Participants were divided into 3 groups: 1) normal volunteers (N), 2) patients without lower urinary tract symptoms (P), 3) overactive bladder (OAB). An OABSS was constructed with a total possible score ranging from 0 (no symptoms) to 30 (worst symptoms). For test-retest reliability, the same scale was administered twice within 3 - 14 days. Simple Pearson correlations were performed for each item and for the total score between measurements at time 1 and time 2. Internal consistency (Cronbach’s alpha) was assessed by calculating the intercorrelations among the scale items. Group comparisons were performed using one-way analysis of variance on the average scale score among three groups. Discriminant validity was assessed by comparing the total score across the three groups at times 1 and 2, using a one-way analysis of variance and LSD post hoc tests.

Results: There were 127 men and 98 women. Internal consistency of the scale administered at time 1 was found to be very high; Chronbach’s alpha=.82. Test - retest reliabilities were as follows: item A=.76, item B=.83, item C=.84, item D=.88, and item E=.90. Test-retest reliability for the total score was .93 (p<.001). There was a significant difference between the total score across all 3 groups (p <.001) during both administrations. Normals obtained the lowest mean scale score 8.2 (5.5), the patients obtained the next higher mean scale score 10.8 (5.1) (p<.01), and the OAB group had the highest score 16.3 (5.5) (p<.001).

Conclusion: This OAB questionnaire is a valid instrument that distinguishes OAB patients from normal volunteers and patients without OAB. It is currently being expanded for use as an OAB outcome score.

Funding Source: Institute for Bladder and Prostate Research, Pfizer, Novartis.

UroToday.com Coverage of SUFU 2007

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