Basis of severity grade in detrusor hyperreflexia

For both treatment and research it is useful to classify detrusor hyperreflexia/instability according to degree of severity, because it relates to symptomatic impact. However, there has been no systematic evaluation of criteria for severity assignment. This report compares patient classification by urodynamic data according to 3 methods: arbitrary criteria, a severity index, and an empirical cluster analysis. Within the primary urodynamic data there were no natural groupings as a basis for division into discrete patient groups. By all three methods, however, severity level did relate to symptoms.