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. 2009 Jun;103(11):1502-8.
doi: 10.1111/j.1464-410X.2008.08334.x. Epub 2009 Jan 14.

Urological symptom clusters and health-related quality-of-life: results from the Boston Area Community Health Survey

Susan A Hall  1 , Carol L Link, Sharon L Tennstedt, Patrick Mollon, Lalitha Padmanabhan Aiyer, Christopher R Chapple, Alan J Wein, Raymond C Rosen
Affiliations

Urological symptom clusters and health-related quality-of-life: results from the Boston Area Community Health Survey

Susan A Hall et al. BJU Int. 2009 Jun.

Abstract

OBJECTIVE To determine whether urological symptom clusters, as identified in previous studies, were associated with health-related quality-of-life (HRQoL) and use of healthcare. SUBJECTS AND METHODS The Boston Area Community Health Survey is a population-based epidemiological study of 2301 male and 3201 female residents of Boston, MA, USA, aged 30-79 years. Baseline data collected from 2002 to 2005 were used in this analysis. Data on 14 urological symptoms were used for the cluster analysis, and five derived symptom clusters among men and four among women were used in multivariate linear regression models (adjusted for age group, race/ethnicity, and comorbidity) to determine their association with physical (PCS-12) and mental health component scores (MCS-12) calculated from the Medical Outcomes Study 12-item Short Form Survey. RESULTS For both men and women, being in the most symptomatic cluster was associated with decrements in the PCS-12 score (men, cluster 5, -10.42; women, cluster 4, -9.80; both P < 0.001) and the MCS-12 score (men, cluster 5, -9.35; women, cluster 4, -6.24; both P < 0.001) compared with the asymptomatic groups. Both men and women in these most symptomatic clusters appeared to have adequate access to healthcare. CONCLUSION For men and women, those with the most urological symptoms reported poorer HRQoL in two domains after adjusting for age and comorbidity, and despite adequate access to care.

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Conflict of interest statement

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIDDK or the NIH. The corresponding author retains the right to provide a copy of the final manuscript to the NIH upon acceptance for publication, for public archiving in PubMed Central as soon as possible but no later than 12 months after publication.

Figures

FIG. 1
FIG. 1
The relative impact of cluster membership on HRQoL: regression coefficients with SEs for the PCS-12 for men (a) and women (b), and the MCS-12 for men (c) and women (d). Models adjusted for age, race/ethnicity and comorbidity.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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