Subjective Measures of Efficacy: Quality of Life, Patient Satisfaction and Patient-Oriented Goals – the Search for Value

Patients with overactive bladder syndrome are significantly affected by their symptoms of urinary urgency, frequency, nocturia, and urge urinary incontinence. The measurement of this impact on their lives is probably best appreciated by health-related quality-of-life instruments and global subjective assessments of patient satisfaction. Treatments for this syndrome should offer more than just efficacy in reducing urinary frequency and incontinence episodes, but should also offer value. A proposal for the calculation of value in treating overactive bladder syndrome and an assessment of the value of the six branded antimuscarinic agents available in the United States is proposed. The impact of overactive bladder syndrome on quality of life is presented for the Multicenter Assessment of TRansdermal therapy in overactive bladder with oXybutinin TDS (MATRIX) trial of over 2800 patients.