Stimulus-associated urinary urges in overactive bladder syndrome.

ABSTRACT

AIMS: Although anecdotal reports of urinary urgency at one's front door are common in overactive bladder syndrome (OAB), little research has been done on how one's front door and other stimuli are related to urinary symptoms. We hypothesized that individuals with OAB would have higher scores on the Urinary Cues Questionnaire, developed for this study to assess stimulus-associated urinary urges, than those without OAB. METHODS: Online surveys were administered to 328 women age 18-40 years recruited from a respondent panel maintained by CINT such that one-third of the sample reported a diagnosis of OAB. The survey assessed OAB symptoms and the frequency with which participants associated 42 stimuli with the urge to urinate. RESULTS: Psychometric analyses showed internal consistency estimates of the Urinary Cues Questionnaire of α = 0.97 and a test-retest correlation of 0.91. Women with OAB had significantly higher Urinary Cues Scores than those without OAB, with a t-test showing a large effect size of d = 1.49 (95%CI 1.24, 1.74), P < 0.001. DISCUSSION: Behavioral treatments aimed at reducing the response to cues may be useful in OAB, but more research is needed on both treatment implications and on the trajectory of symptom development.