[Is it useful to ask questions to assess the strength of urination flow?]

In order to determine the value of the interview conducted to assess the micturitional stream of our patients, we compared in 200 cases what the patients said about their micturition against their maximum flow rate (QMx). We demonstrated that 79% of those who said they voided with a "bad stream" had QMx less than or equal to 10 ml/sec. Only 65% of those who said they voided with a "good stream" had a QMx less than or equal to 15 ml/sec. Of those with QMx less than or equal to 10 ml/sec. (73 patients), only 15% had reported a "bad stream". Thus, we believe it is not reliable and of little interest to ask our patients about the strength of their micturitional stream. It would only be useful in those who reported a "bad voiding". To our knowledge, this is the first study that documents the discrepancy between data from the interview and the maximum flow rate.