National Community Prevalence of Overactive Bladder in the United States Stratified by Sex and Age

doi:10.1016/j.urology.2010.08.039

Urology

Volume 77, Issue 5, May 2011, Pages 1081-1087

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.urology.2010.08.039 Get rights and content

Objective

To estimate the prevalence of and bother associated with overactive bladder (OAB) in adults aged ≥40 years in the United States, using current International Continence Society definitions.

Methods

Internet-based panel members were selected randomly to participate in EpiLUTS, a cross-sectional, population-representative survey. Participants used Likert scales to rate how often they experienced individual lower urinary tract symptoms during the previous 4 weeks and how much bother they experienced. Based on responses to questions regarding urgency and urgency urinary incontinence, OAB symptoms were categorized as occurring at least “sometimes” or at least “often.” Symptom bother was categorized as at least “somewhat” or at least “quite a bit.”

Results

The response rate was 59.6%, with a final sample of 9416 men and 10,584 women. Prevalence of OAB symptoms at least “sometimes” was 27.2% and 43.1% for men and women, respectively; prevalence of OAB at least “often” was 15.8% and 32.6%, respectively. Among men with OAB symptoms at least “sometimes,” 60.0% were bothered at least “somewhat” and 27.8% were bothered at least “quite a bit.” Among women, bother rates were 67.6% and 38.9%, respectively. Among respondents with OAB at least “often,” 67.8% and 38.2% of men and 73.0% and 47.1% of women reported being bothered at least “somewhat” and at least “quite a bit,” respectively. We estimate that 29.8 million adults aged ≥40 years in the United States have bothersome OAB symptoms.

Conclusions

Bothersome OAB symptoms are highly prevalent among men and women aged ≥40 years in the United States.

Section snippets

Material and Methods

EpiLUTS, a population-based, cross-sectional survey, was conducted in the United States, United Kingdom, and Sweden to evaluate the prevalence and symptom-specific bother of OAB and other LUTS and to evaluate the impact of these symptoms on health-related quality of life, work productivity, mental health, and sexual health.⁷ In the United States, 20,000 men and women aged ≥40 years were recruited from Internet-based panels developed from consumer and voter databases. The rationale for this

Results

Among approximately 1.5 million Internet panel members, 62,301 (approximately 4%) residing in the United States were randomly selected to receive e-mail invitations, from whom 36,821 responses were received (59.6% response rate after weighting for error, including inaccurate or inactive e-mail addresses for potential respondents). Among these responses, 31,588 surveys (85.8%) were eligible for analysis. Because there was an overabundance of younger respondents in the eligible surveys relative

Comment

The EpiLUTS study surveyed 20,000 US adults aged ≥40 years and to our knowledge it is the largest population-representative survey conducted in a single country. The size of the survey population should strengthen the accuracy of the prevalence figures obtained. In EpiLUTS, the prevalence of OAB symptoms defined as at least “sometimes” was 27.2% for men and 43.1% for women. As expected, prevalence was lower when OAB symptoms were categorized by the more restrictive definition of at least

Conclusions

Although OAB symptom prevalence with the more restricted definition of at least “often” was similar to that reported for men in previous epidemiologic studies, a much higher prevalence of OAB symptoms was found for women in the Internet-based EpiLUTS survey. When the broader OAB definition of at least “sometimes” was used, many more men and women in the EpiLUTS survey reported OAB symptoms and were bothered by them than expected based on findings from previous surveys, including the NOBLE⁴ and

Acknowledgments

Editorial support was provided by Colin Mitchell and Karen Zimmermann from Complete Healthcare Communications, Inc., and was funded by Pfizer, Inc.

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: This study was funded by Pfizer, Inc.

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Female UrologyNational Community Prevalence of Overactive Bladder in the United States Stratified by Sex and Age

Objective

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Section snippets

Material and Methods

Results

Comment

Conclusions

Acknowledgments

Eur Urol

J Urol

The standardisation of terminology of lower urinary tract function: report from the Standardisation Sub-Committee of the International Continence Society

Neurourol Urodyn

An International Urogynecological Association (IUGA)/International Continence Society (ICS) joint report on the terminology for female pelvic floor dysfunction

Neurourol Urodyn

How widespread are the symptoms of an overactive bladder and how are they managed? A population-based prevalence study

BJU Int

Prevalence and burden of overactive bladder in the United States

World J Urol

Is the prevalence of overactive bladder overestimated? A population-based study in Finland

PLoS ONE

Rationale for the study methods and design of the epidemiology of lower urinary tract symptoms (EpiLUTS) study

BJU Int

Female Urology
National Community Prevalence of Overactive Bladder in the United States Stratified by Sex and Age