Lower urinary tract symptoms and quality of life of people consulting general practitioners

Abstract

Although it has been reported that lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) adversely affect quality of life (QOL) among men and women according to their severity, there have been few comprehensive studies showing the relationship between general LUTS and QOL among subjects consulting their general practitioners (GPs) for chronic medical problems. We believe that urologists should know of such an association, when educating GPs as to the LUTS practice. Here, we demonstrate the relationship between LUTS and health-related

Reliability and Validity of the King's Health Questionnaire for Male Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms in Taiwan

“…The HR‐QoL was measured by 16 questions derived from the KHQ. According to the methods used in the study by Okamura et al for people with LUTS, 9,11–13 the revised KHQ for LUTS includes eight domains and 16 items, that is, “general health perceptions” (1 item), “LUTS impact on life” (1 item, general influence of LUTS on life), “role limitations” (2 items, restriction of work or housework), “physical limitations” (2 items, restriction of physical activities or travel), “social limitations” (3 items, restriction of social life, visiting friends, or family life), “personal relationships” (2 items, influence on relationship with partner or sex life), “emotional problems” (3 items, depression, anxiety, or feeling bad about oneself), and “sleep/energy disturbance” (2 items, sleeping or feeling tired). According to the developers' instructions, the possible scores for each domain ranged from 0 (best health) to 100 (worst health) 8 …”

“…Each item has six choices scored from 0 (absence of symptom) to 5 (symptom always present). The total scores ranged from 0 to 35 (poor conditions) and the LUTS severity were categorized as mild (IPSS 1-7), moderate (8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19), or severe (20-35).…”

“…Considering that the KHQ is relatively comprehensive and all items address “bladder problems”, it seems that the KHQ can be a potentially applicable tool for evaluating HR‐QoL impact on people with LUTS. In the recent decade, the KHQ has been validated 9 and applied to assess the HR‐QoL for Japanese with general LUTS 10–13 . The English version of KHQ has also been translated to traditional Chinese by linguistic and clinical validation for patients with overactive bladder by the Taiwanese Continence Society in 2009, 14 and limited disease‐specific HR‐QoL measurement for men with general LUTS has been found in Taiwan.…”