The role of urgency, frequency, and nocturia in defining overactive bladder adaptive behavior

Aim: To determine the relation between urgency alone, or in combination with frequency and nocturia, and adaptive behavior in overactive bladder (OAB) syndrome. Methods: We used survey data from the General Longitudinal Overactive Bladder Evaluation (GLOBE) of primary care patients over 40. Participants (n=2,752: 1,557 females; 1,195 males) completed the same survey at two time points, 6 months apart. Questions assessed OAB symptoms and adaptive behavior. We estimated correlation coefficients (R2) between urgency, frequency, and nocturia symptom scores (alone and in combination) and adaptive behavior measures at baseline and change in symptom scores and behavioral measures from baseline to 6 months. Results: At baseline, urgency was the dominant predictor of all behavioral measures for females (R² =0.19--0.48) and males (R² =0.15--0.39). Lower R² values were observed for the change in measures from baseline to 6 months, but again change in urgency was the strongest predictor of change in adaptive behavior (R² =0.04-0.13 in females, and 0.02-0.08 in males). The correlation between symptoms and measures of adaptive behavior was almost completely explained by the urgency score. Frequency and nocturia did not substantially improve the overall correlation. Conclusion: The relation between measures of OAB symptoms and adaptive behavior at baseline and over time are largely explained by urgency, not by frequency and nocturia.