A Comprehensive Community-Based Prevalence Study on Nocturia in Hong Kong Male Adults

Abstract

Background: Most prevalence surveys on nocturia have focused on older populations. This study aimed to measure the nocturia prevalence across the full spectrum of male adults living in Hong Kong, where severity and associated quality-of-life (QoL) were also explored.

Methods: A cross-sectional population-based survey was conducted in men aged 18 or above using the ICIQ-NQoL Questionnaire.

Results: With 1239 respondents at age ranged 18-99, the overall nocturia prevalences were found to be 63.0% (ranged 41.6-84.6% at different age groups) and 31.2% (ranged 13.0-56.3% at different age groups), for ≥1 and ≥2 bedtime voiding episodes, respectively. The chance of nocturia was dramatically increased at age 60 or above while both prevalence and voiding frequency were increased with advancing age. About 83% of the nocturia men experienced one to two voiding episodes per night, but many of them had self-rated their QoL poor or very poor and indicated moderate-to-high bothersome. Younger men at age 18-39 were found to have high prevalence as 41.6% and almost 30% of them rated poor or very poor QoL.

Conclusions: Nocturia was not only affecting the older populations but also caused significant bothersome and negative impacts on QoL in younger males.

Keywords: NQoL; bedtime urination; lower urinary tract symptoms; male adults; nocturia; quality of life; urinary frequency.

Figure A1

The Hong Kong Cantonese version of the Noctruia Quality of Life module of the International Consultation on Incontinence Modular Questionnaire (ICIQ-NQoL). This version is translated by the research team and the first time appeared in publication.

Figure A2

The EuroQol visual analog scale (EQ-VAS).

Figure 1

Prevalence of nocturia in different age groups.

Figure 2

Distribution of nocturia episodes in: (a) the overall studied nocturia population, which was divided into different age groups at: (b) 18–40 years; (c) 41–50 years; (d) 51–60 years; (e) 61–70 years; and (f) ≥71 years.

Figure 3

Nocturia-related QoL, bothersome caused by nocturia, and health state perceived by the individuals with nocturia, are presented as the trends of: (a) NQoL score and factor scores against the increasing nocturia frequency, and (b) against the advancing age groups, and (c) the bothersome score and (d) the health state score against the increasing nocturia frequency.