The Validation of the Patient Perception of Bladder Condition (PPBC): A Single-Item Global Measure for Patients with Overactive Bladder

ObjectivesThe purpose of this study was to evaluate the validity and responsiveness of a global measure for overactive bladder (OAB), the Patient Perception of Bladder Condition (PPBC).MethodsPost-hoc analyses were conducted on two 12-wk clinical trials for OAB (Study 1: n = 865; Study 2: n = 520). In addition to the PPBC, patients completed two condition-specific health-related quality of life (HRQL) measures, the Overactive Bladder Questionnaire (OAB-q) and King's Health Questionnaire (KHQ), and bladder diaries at baseline and 12 wk. Validity of the PPBC was evaluated through correlations with baseline diaries, OAB-q, and KHQ. The responsiveness of the PPBC was evaluated using correlations and general linear models to assess the degree of association between change in PPBC and change in the diaries, OAB-q, and KHQ.ResultsBoth samples were primarily women and white with mean ages of 61.0 and 58.8 yr. The majority of patients were incontinent (75.3% and 80.4%) with the greatest proportion of patients indicating that they had “moderate problems” (47.5% and 51.2%) on the PPBC at baseline. Significant correlations were present at baseline and among change scores between the PPBC and the bladder diaries (p < 0.001), OAB-q (p < 0.001), and KHQ (p < 0.01). In both studies, patients with major PPBC improvement had significantly greater reductions in frequency, urgency episodes, incontinence episodes, and Symptom Bother and significantly greater improvements in HRQL than patients with only a minor PPBC improvement.ConclusionThe PPBC, a global patient-reported measure of bladder condition, demonstrated good construct validity and responsiveness to change. These findings support the use of the PPBC as a global assessment of bladder condition among patients with OAB.