[The urologist's language: a survey on symptoms].

The definition of urologic symptoms varies depending on the source. Some symptoms are particularly vague and their clinical usefulness is doubtful. A survey was sent to 500 spanish urologists, asking about terminology and normality limits. There were 17 items, most of them as multiple choice questions, and all of them with the possibility of an open answer. The response rate, two months after the mailing was 12% (60 physicians). The variability of the answers was high for most of the items. In most questions over half of the respondents (between 50 and 70%, depending on the question) agreed, whereas the rest gave different answers. The free answers given were also different. This discrepancy affected all of the questions. The low response rate can be attributed to the scare tradition of this kind of survey in our country. The disparity in the definitions urges a unification of them, or at least that authors explain what they understand when they mention any symptom or syndrome.