title: Evaluating patients' symptoms of overactive bladder by questionnaire: the role of urgency in urinary frequency.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To explain what role urinary urgency has on urinary frequency in patients with overactive bladder (OAB).
  
  
  METHODS
  We prospectively enrolled 102 patients with OAB over a 6-week period. Patients were assessed with the OAB-q and a pilot questionnaire to identify which urinary symptoms were most bothersome and what underlying cause subjects attributed urinary frequency to. Associations between epidemiologic characteristics, OAB-q scores, and subject responses to the pilot questionnaire, were examined for statistical significance with the Pearson chi square test.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The study population comprised 85% women and 15% men, with mean age 67.4 years and mean OAB-q score 54. Subjects reported their most bothersome symptom was: frequency 24.5%, urgency or urgency incontinence 48.0%, nocturia 27.5%. Of the patients most bothered by frequency, 64% identified the International Continence Society definition of urgency or "fear of leakage" as the underlying reason for their frequency. Overall, 82.4% and 48.0% of patients reported urgency or urgency incontinence as a symptom and most bothersome symptom respectively. However, when patients were specifically asked what drives their urinary frequency, these percentages increased to 89.2% and 63.7%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This pilot study confirms that urgency is a large factor underlying the drive to void frequently in OAB, even when patients do not admit to urgency as the most bothersome symptom.
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, New York University Langone Medical Center, New York, NY.
authors.forename: Sarah A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Mitchell
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, New York University Langone Medical Center, New York, NY.
authors.forename: Benjamin M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Brucker
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, New York University Langone Medical Center, New York, NY.
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kaefer
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, New York University Langone Medical Center, New York, NY.
authors.forename: Margarita
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Aponte
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, New York University Langone Medical Center, New York, NY.
authors.forename: Nirit
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Rosenblum
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, New York University Langone Medical Center, New York, NY.
authors.forename: Christopher
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kelly
authors.affiliation: Division of Urology, Department of Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Duane
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Hickling
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, New York University Langone Medical Center, New York, NY. Electronic address: Victor.Nitti@nyumc.org.
authors.forename: Victor W
authors.initials: VW
authors.lastname: Nitti
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D053158:Nocturia / Q000175:diagnosis*; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011788:Quality of Life; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D053201:Urinary Bladder, Overactive / Q000175:diagnosis*; D014554:Urination