Health Related Quality of Life in Patients with Side-Effects after Antimuscarinic Treatment for Overactive Bladder.
OBJECTIVE
Drug therapy is the mainstay of treatment for overactive bladder (OAB), but antimuscarinic agents possess side-effects. These side-effects decrease the patients' quality of life. We therefore assessed the impact of side-effects on health-related quality of life (HR-QoL) through an analysis of EQ-5D questionnaire.


METHODS
This study was designed to investigate the patients' satisfaction by quality weight of health status as affected by the side-effects of OAB medications. Patients who had OAB symptoms lasting longer than 3 months and have experienced side-effects after any antimuscarinic treatments filled in the EQ-5D questionnaire. The enrolled patients had two EQ-5D questionnaires for two different health statuses, i.e., presence or absence of side-effects. Quality weight was calculated using the ED-5D health status score with Korean tariff.


RESULTS
One hundred patients were enrolled and completed the HR-QoL questionnaire. The most prevalent side-effect was dry mouth (61%) and 28% patients had dry mouth and constipation concurrently. Most of the patients with side-effects tried to endure and overcome these side-effects (79%), but 10% desired a change in medication, and 6% stopped medication altogether. The quality weight of EQ-5D without side-effects was 0.863, while the quality weight with side-effects was 0.666 (P < 0.001). The VAS score was 79 in patient without side-effects and 57 in those with side-effects, supporting the results of quality weight assessment.


CONCLUSIONS
Overactive bladder patients may enjoy a better quality of life if side-effects associated with antimuscarinic therapy are fewer.
Department of Urology, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Aram
A
Kim
Department of Urology, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Kyu-Sung
KS
Lee
HyeRang Company, Seoul, Korea.
Rangrhee
R
Jung
Department of Computer science and Information system, Hanyang Women's University, Seoul, Korea.
Selee
S
Na
Department of Urology, Bucheon St. Mary's hospital, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Korea.
Joon-Chul
JC
Kim
Department of Urology, Konkuk University Hospital, Konkuk University School of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Hyeong Gon
HG
Kim
Department of Urology, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Myung-Soo
MS
Choo
D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003248:Constipation / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018727:Muscarinic Antagonists / Q000009:adverse effects*; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D011788:Quality of Life; D012737:Sex Factors; D053201:Urinary Bladder, Overactive / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000523:psychology; D014987:Xerostomia / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000523:psychology; D055815:Young Adult
D018727:Muscarinic Antagonists
antimuscarinic treatment; overactive bladder; quality of life; side-effect