Perceptions of Urgency in Women With Interstitial Cystitis/Bladder Pain Syndrome or Overactive Bladder

Purpose: To compare urgency symptoms in women with interstitial cystitis/ bladder pain syndrome (IC/BPS) and overactive bladder (OAB). Materials and Methods: Women with diagnoses of IC/BPS (n= 194) and OAB (n= 85) were recruited from the clinical practices of Urologists (n= 8) and Gynecologists (n= 16) with recognized expertise in the diagnosis and management of these conditions. Subjects completed a comprehensive telephone survey about their current symptoms. The questionnaire included 11 questions about urinary urgency. Responses were compared between the two groups. Results: Urgency was commonly reported as a symptom by women with both conditions (81% IC/BPS and 91% OAB). Compared with IC/BPS, urgency in OAB more often resulted in leakage, and was perceived to be more of a problem. In IC/BPS, the urgencywas primarily reported as due to pain, pressure, or discomfort, while in OAB the urgency was more commonly due to fear of leakage. However, approximately 40% of women with OAB also report urgency due to pain, pressure, or discomfort. Similar proportions of both groups (similar to 60%) indicated that the urgency occurred suddenly instead of more gradually over a period of minutes or hours. Conclusions: Urgency symptoms differed in women diagnosed with IC/BPS versus those diagnosed with OAB, but there was significant overlap. This suggests that urgency is not a well- defined and commonly understood symptom that can be utilized to clearly discriminate between IC/BPS and OAB. These findings reinforce the clinical observation that it is often challenging to differentiate between these two conditions. Neurourol. Urodynam. 30: 402- 405, 2011. (C) 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc.