Validation of the urgency questionnaire in Portuguese: A new instrument to assess overactive bladder syndrome.

Purpose: Overactive Bladder (OAB) is a clinical condition characterized by symptoms reported by patients. Therefore, measurement instruments based on reported information are important for understanding its impact and treatment benefits. The aim of this study was to translate, culturally adapt and validate the Urgency Questionnaire (UQ) in Portuguese.

Materials And Methods: Initially, the UQ was translated and culturally adapted to Portuguese. Sixty-three volunteers were enrolled in the study and were interviewed for responding the Portuguese version of the UQ and the validated Portuguese version of the Overactive Bladder Questionnaire short-form (OABq-SF), used as the gold standard measurement for the validation process. Psychometric properties such as criterion validity, stability, and reliability were tested.

Results: Forty-six subjects were included in the symptomatic group (presence of "urgency"), and seventeen were included in the asymptomatic group (control group). There was difference between symptomatic and asymptomatic subjects on all of the subscales (p≤0.001). The UQ subscales correlated with the OABq-SF subscales (p≤0.01), except the subscale "time to control urgency" and the item "impact" from the visual analog scales (VAS). However, these scales correlated with the OABq-SF - Symptom Bother Scale. The UQ subscales demonstrated stability over time (p<0.05), but the subscale "fear of incontinence" and the item "severity" of the VAS did not. All of the UQ subscales showed internal consistencies that were considered to be good or excellent.

Conclusion: The Portuguese version of the UQ proved to be a valid tool for the evaluation of OAB in individuals whose native language is Portuguese.