Measuring the impact of nocturia on quality of life

The term quality of life is used widely in studies, often Nocturia is one of several LUTS that are reported to be troublesome by middle-aged and older people. While without a clear definition. Quality of life is commonly linked with the WHO definition of health, which refers very little research has focused exclusively on nocturia and its impact on people’s lives, a considerable body of to a state of physical, emotional and social well-being, and not just the absence of disease or infirmity [18]. research has been published on the prevalence of LUTS among men, particularly in relation to BPE/BPH and its ‘Health-related quality of life’ (HRQL) is a multidimensional concept which encompasses well-being related to treatments. Research in women has concentrated more on the impact of incontinence on everyday life [1], health, including: ‘those attributes valued by patients including their resultant comfort or sense of well-being; although there has been some work on the prevalence of a wider range of LUTS. the extent to which they were able to maintain reasonable physical, emotional, and intellectual function; the The symptom of nocturia has been included in several questionnaires designed to assess the presence of LUTS degree to which they retain their ability to participate in valued activities within the family, in the workplace (e.g. the Boyarsky schedule [2], Madsen-Iversen schedule [3], Maine questionnaire [4], AUA symptom score [5], and in the community’ [19]. This definition emphasizes the multidimensional nature of quality of life and the ICSmale questionnaire [6], Danish prostate symptom score (DAN-PSS) [7], Urogenital Distress Inventory (UDI) importance of considering each individual’s perception of their situation in the context of aspects not related to [8], King’s Health questionnaire (KHQ) [9], and Bristol female LUTS questionnaire (BFLUTS) [10]). In most of health, e.g. jobs, family and other life circumstances [20]. these questionnaires, nocturia is included as one of several items which are added together to form a score, The measurement of quality of life and so the prevalence of nocturia and its relationships with other factors are often diBcult to discern. However, Aspects of quality of life can be explored through the use of in-depth interviews or questionnaire surveys. a few questionnaires have investigated nocturia independently of other symptoms, e.g. the ICSmale questionnaire, Interviews with individuals can provide detailed information about perceptions of health and illness, and developed from the ICS ‘BPH’ study for men [6], and its sister questionnaire developed for women, the BFLUTS specific issues relating to the impact of symptoms on a person’s everyday life. However, interviews are timequestionnaire [10]. Several questionnaires have been developed to examconsuming and the most common method of assessing some aspects of quality of life is through questionnaires, ine the impact of LUTS (including nocturia) on what is termed ‘quality of life’, particularly in the context of usually with fixed response categories. QoL questionnaires can be broadly classified into two major categories: male diBculties relating to benign prostatic disease (e.g. the BPH Impact Index [11], ICSQol [12], BPH-HRQOL generic measures designed to be used with a variety of populations, and condition-specific instruments to assess [13], BPH survey [14], Veterans ACairs Questionnaire [15], and Olmstead County Index [16]). In addition, the in detail more specific aspects of life that are aCected by, e.g. urinary symptoms. Both types of questionnaires can IPSS includes one question which aims to evaluate general impact [17]. Very few questionnaires have examprovide valuable information but in many cases, condition-specific questionnaires are able to measure smaller ined the impact of LUTS on women, although again there has been considerable attention devoted to sympchanges in clinical status than can generic measures. Before they can be used, questionnaires need to be toms of incontinence [1]. On the whole, nocturia as a symptom alone has not been the subject of quality-oftested for validity, reliability and responsiveness. The validity of a questionnaire is simply whether it measures life evaluations.