Symptoms, bothersomeness and quality of life in patients with LUTS suggestive of BPH

The QUIBUS study is the largest investigation ever performed in Italy with an extensive use of the ICS-BPH questionnaire. The internal consistency of each of its three domains was high for ICS-Male (Cronbach's alpha = 0.83 an d 0.89 for symptoms and bother, respectively) and lower for ICS-Sex (Cronba ch's alpha = 0.63 and 0.75, see a following paper of this issue) and ICS-Qo L (Cronbach's alpha = 0.53), as previously reported in the validation study of this tool. Voiding symptoms were more frequently reported, with reduced urinary stream, terminal dribble and incomplete bladder emptying as the mo st frequently represented. The first storage symptom in the ranking by freq uency was 'rush to toilet' (70% of the population), in 7th position; howeve r, the relevant bother was among the highest reported. Items related to uri nary incontinence appeared, when present, highly bothersome (87-92% of pati ents), even though exhibited by a minority of the population (5-34%). The m ean (+/- SD) IPSS, calculated on 970 patients, was 15 (+/- 7). Two major di screpancies were found in the comparison between IPSS and ICS-Male. First, terminal dribble, which is not considered in the IPSS, is often reported in the ICS-Male. Second, some storage symptoms (nocturia and day-time frequen cy) are less frequently reported in the ICS-Male than in the IPSS, while be ing, in general, highly bothersome. As regards QoL, 95% of subjects declare d that they would not be completely happy to spend the rest of their life w ith their actual symptoms (ICS-QoL item 33) and 79% that BPH influences the ir life from 'a little' to 'a lot' (ICS-QoL item 30). The mean ( SD) IPSS-Q oL single question score was 3.0 +/- 1.4 (n = 970), and the frequency distr ibution of scores was equivalent to the one detected by the corresponding q uestion of ICS-QoL (item 33). SF-36, a disease-independent questionnaire ab out QoL, after a 1-year follow-up is expected to clarify which among the IP SS and ICS-BPH items better describe the impact of BPH on QoL. Copyright (C ) 2001 S. Karger AG, Basel.