[Symptoms severity profile and expectations in hyperactive bladder patients - VHEXPECTA Study.]

To Evaluate the severity of symptoms in OAB patients and their outcomes expectations, symptoms management and Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL).

Epidemiological, multicentre, non-interventional, cross-sectional study, conducted by 294 physicians in Spain in clinical practice. Female adult patients with OAB symptoms, newly diagnosed or during follow-up were included. B-SAQ, OABq-SF and an ad-hoc patient expectation questionnaire were completed. Association between expectations, symptom severity and prior treatments was analyzed using Chi- Square. The non-parametric Kruskal-Wallis test was used to analyze the relationship between the intensity of the urgency and the impact of OAB symptoms on HRQoL and between expectative and symptoms characteristics and HRQoL.

1.107 patients were included. Mean age was 58 years. 60.6% were newly diagnosed and urinary urgency was the most frequent symptom reported (93.3%). According the B-SAQ score 58.7% suffered moderatedor severe OAB. Expectations in patients without previous treatment about " their symptoms will be cured permanently" were higher than in patients previously treated (p<0.005). The percentage of patients who expected a positive response to treatment decreased while the OAB symptom severity increased (73.9% mild symptoms, 32.5% very severe symptoms; p<0.005). Moreover, patients with higher symptom discomfort were less agreement with all expectations ( p<0.005), and HRQL was higher in patients with higher expectations (p<0.005).

The expectations of patients with OAB regarding their pathology and the expected outcomes of treatments are related to symptom severity and HRQL.