OBJECTIVE

Determining the prevalence of symptoms suggestive of overactive bladder (OAB) in a Spanish population and evaluate the impact of these symptoms on well-being and labour productivity in this population.

DESIGN

Transversal study.

LOCATION

Primary health care, Madrid, Spain.

PARTICIPANTS

Males and females >30 years.

INTERVENTIONS

Classification by primary care physicians with the Overactive Bladder Awareness Tool abbreviated version (OAB-V3). Subjects with score ≥3 and a similarly balanced control population with score <3 were clinically investigated.

PRINCIPAL MEASUREMENTS

History, physical examination, urinalysis, sonography, general well-being scale and the questionnaires PPBC, OAB-q y WPAI-SHP.

RESULTS

A total 923 subjects were screened, of which 209 (22.6%), 35% males and 65% females, had probable OAB. Age distribution increased from 11.1% in 4th decade to 44.4% in 9th decade. Kappa coefficient between suspected OAB and definite diagnosis was .83. The area under ROC curve for diagnosis based on OAB-V3 questionnaire and the presence of perceived bother and coping strategies was 92%. Subjects classified by score ≥3 had worse well-being, higher PPBC score and worse parameters on total OAB-q and transformed scores for each OAB-q subscale (P<.0001). In these subjects labour productivity was not affected (P=.14) but the capacity to perform regular activities was (P<.0001).

CONCLUSIONS

OAB-V3 is a simple questionnaire to screen OAB with good predictive accuracy in a primary care setting and reveals important implications on health related quality of life issues.