Is the bladder a reliable witness for predicting detrusor overactivity?

We determined how well the symptoms of OAB syndrome correlate with urodynamic DO using International Continence Society definitions.

The study included adult males and females 18 years or older who attended a tertiary referral center for urodynamics from February 2002 to February 2004. Patients were selected based on OAB syndrome symptoms (urgency, urgency urinary incontinence and frequency). The percent of patients who had symptoms alone or in combination and DO was calculated.

There was a better correlation in results between OAB symptoms and the urodynamic diagnosis of DO in men than in women. Of men 69% and 44% of women with urgency (OAB dry) had DO, while 90% of men and 58% of women with urgency and urgency urinary incontinence (OAB wet) had DO. Stress urinary incontinence seems to have accounted for the decreased rates in women since 87% of women with urgency urinary incontinence also had the symptom of stress urinary incontinence. The ICS definition does not specify what constitutes abnormal voiding frequency. Analysis of results showed that increasing voiding frequency did not have any effect on increasing the accuracy of diagnosis of DO except in women with 10 or more daytime micturition episodes.

The bladder is a better and more reliable witness in men than in women with a greater correlation between OAB symptoms and urodynamic DO, more so in the OAB wet than in OAB dry patients.