Original Article
Development and validation of the Chinese Overactive Bladder Symptom Score for assessing overactive bladder syndrome in a RESORT study

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jfma.2011.09.020Get rights and content
Under an Elsevier user license
open archive

Background/Purpose

This study aimed to develop and validate the Chinese Overactive Bladder Symptom Score (OABSS) for assessing overactive bladder (OAB) symptoms and compare it with a 3-day bladder diary.

Methods

The Chinese OABSS was developed by linguistic validation of the original version. Its reliability and validity and correlations with a 3-day bladder diary were tested on patients with OAB in a multicenter study conducted in Taiwan (the RESORT study).

Results

A total of 60 patients with OAB, either incontinent (OAB wet, n = 31) or continent (OAB dry, n = 29), were enrolled consecutively in this study. The test–retest reliability of the Chinese OABSS was moderate to good, with weighted kappa coefficients of 0.515–0.721 for each symptom score and 0.610 for the total symptom score. Each symptom score correlated positively with the total OABSS (Spearman's rho 0.365–0.793) and was internally consistent (Cronbach's alpha 0.674). The distribution of the OABSS showed a clear separation between OAB wet (average 11.4, range 7–15) and OAB dry (average 7.97, range 4–10) subgroups (Wilcoxon exact test, p < 0.05). In addition, the OABSS items correlated positively with the corresponding bladder diary variables (Spearman's rho 0.504–0.879) and the degrees of agreement improved with study visits except for nighttime frequency. The Chinese OABSS tended to underestimate the frequency of nighttime voiding.

Conclusion

The Chinese OABSS has been developed and validated as a reliable instrument for assessing OAB symptoms. OABSS can be an alternative to, but not a replacement for, a 3-day bladder diary for assessing patients.

Keywords

bladder diary
Chinese
overactive bladder
questionnaire
validation

Cited by (0)