Comparison of the overactive bladder symptom score and the overactive bladder symptom score derived from the bladder...

The overactive bladder symptom score (OABSS) is a useful tool for assessing the four key symptoms of overactive bladder (OAB), but it sometimes misrepresents a patient's actual voiding status. To examine whether the patient-determined OABSS underestimates or overestimates the true status, its results were compared to those of the OABSS derived from a 7-day bladder diary (OABSS-BD).

Records of patients who visited our outpatient clinic with lower urinary tract symptoms were evaluated retrospectively. The patients were asked to complete the OABSS and the 7-day bladder diary (BD). The OABSS-BD was created from the 7-day BD. Questions were compared between the OABSS and the OABSS-BD.

A total of 44 men and 31 women were evaluated. For daytime frequency, the mean OABSS score was 1.03 ± 0.57 and the OABSS-BD score was 0.69 ± 0.52 (P < 0.01). For nighttime frequency, the mean OABSS score was 2.27 ± 0.84, and the OABSS-BD score was 1.96 ± 1.00 (P = 0.04). For urinary urgency, the mean OABSS score was 2.49 ± 1.83, and the OABSS-BD score was 2.70 ± 1.90 (P = 0.27). For urgency incontinence, the mean OABSS score was 1.67 ± 1.92, and the OABSS-BD score was 1.52 ± 1.87 (P = 0.28). For the total score, the mean OABSS total score was 7.26 ± 3.92, and the OABSS-BD score was 6.98 ± 3.26 (P = 0.23).

The OABSS is a very simple and useful tool. However, compared to the results from the 7-day FVC, the present patients overestimated daytime and nighttime frequency.