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Should we explain lower urinary tract symptoms to patients?
Author(s) -
Digesu G. Alessandro,
Khullar Vik,
Panayi Demetri,
Calandrini Marco,
Gan Michael,
Nicolini Umberto
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
neurourology and urodynamics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.918
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1520-6777
pISSN - 0733-2467
DOI - 10.1002/nau.20527
Subject(s) - nocturia , medicine , terminology , lower urinary tract symptoms , urinary incontinence , meaning (existential) , urinary system , stress incontinence , gynecology , overactive bladder , urology , physical therapy , alternative medicine , psychotherapist , psychology , pathology , prostate , philosophy , linguistics , cancer
Aim The aim of our study was to evaluate the understanding of lower urinary tract symptom (LUTS) terminology used by patients. Materials and Methods Women attending urodynamic clinics in United Kingdom, Australia, and Italy were asked to complete a questionnaire testing the women's understanding of stress urinary incontinence, urge urinary incontinence, frequency, urgency, nocturia, and hesitancy. Five possible explanations for the meaning of each symptom were given. Results A total of 138 consecutive women were prospectively recruited. The terms of daytime frequency, nocturia, urgency, urge urinary incontinence, stress urinary incontinence, and hesitancy were defined correctly, according to the International Continence Society terminology, only by 33% (45/138), 44% (61/138), 46% (64/138), 39% (54/138), 37% (51/138), and 41% (57/138) of women, respectively. Over 20% of women were unsure about the meaning of each symptom. We did not find any statistical difference between the three groups in determining the correct definition ( P = 0.5). Conclusions Our findings showed that most women do not know the correct meaning of LUTS terminology currently used by physicians. Neurourol. Urodynam. 27:368–371, 2008. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.