title: "Quality of life" assessment of urination in elderly Japanese men and women with some medical problems using International Prostate Symptom Score and King's Health Questionnaire.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the relationships among lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS), satisfaction at urination, and quality of life (QoL) in elderly Japanese men and women, who attended physicians for their medical problems.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 437 Japanese men and 196 women, aged 50 or older, responded to a questionnaire, which included seven questions regarding urination, one question about bothersomeness (QoL index) from the International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS), two questions about frequency of urinary incontinence and 16 questions from the King's Health Questionnaire (KHQ).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of 401 patients who completed the IPSS and KHQ questionnaires, 235 (72.3%) men and 85 (64.7%) women had moderate to severe LUTS. In both genders, LUTS severity was significantly correlated with satisfaction status and KHQ-QoL domain scores. Satisfaction status also correlated with KHQ-QoL scores. Thirty-eight (13.5%) men and 27 (22.7%) women had frequent incontinence episodes. When excluding the patients with frequent incontinence episodes, KHQ-QoL scores of severe LUTS decreased in the domains of role, physical and social limitations, personal relationships and sleep/energy in women alone.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Urination problems and related QoL status could be easily assessed by IPSS and QoL index in the elderly. Urinary incontinence appeared to be more associated with QoL in elderly women. The KHQ may be useful to assess the detailed urination-related QoL status of elderly men and women with LUTS or urinary incontinence.
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Chubu National Hospital, 36-3 Gengo, Morioka-cho, Obu, Aichi Prefecture, Japan. kokamura@chuba-nh.go.jp
authors.forename: Kikuo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Okamura
authors.forename: Takatoshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Usami
authors.forename: Katsushi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nagahama
authors.forename: Satoshi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Maruyama
authors.forename: Eiji
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Mizuta
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011788:Quality of Life; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014555:Urination Disorders / Q000150:complications