OBJECTIVE:

To determine the prevalence of overactive bladder and the degree of impact it has on the quality of life of patients recruited from five hospital centers in Mexico City.

MATERIALS AND METHODS:

A descriptive, observational, cross-sectional study was conducted through the prospective collection of patient data from the General Medicine, Family Medicine, or Internal Medicine outpatient consultation at five hospital centers in Mexico City, within the time frame of January and December 2017. Participants were asked to fill out the validated Spanish version of the ICIQ-OAB questionnaire at that same consultation, one time only. The patients were divided into ten-year age groups starting at 18 years of age. The data were analyzed through descriptive statistics.

RESULTS:

There were questionnaires from 352 participants at the time of the intermediate analysis. A total of 72% (n = 253) reported urgency as the key symptom of overactive bladder (78 vs 66% in women and men, respectively, p<0.05). Moderate-severe symptoms were reported in 16% of the patients above the age of 57 years. Severe symptoms were more frequent in women (68%). A total of 31% of the patients described a moderate-severe impact on quality of life. The main concomitant symptom was nicturia (81%) but urge incontinence was the most bothersome symptom for patients (32%).

CONCLUSION:

The prevalence of urgency (the cardinal symptom of overactive bladder) was high in a population in Mexico City.