Prevalence Of Painful Bladder Syndrome (PBS) Symptoms In Adult Women In The General Population In Japan

Main Category: Urology / Nephrology
Also Included In: Women's Health / Gynecology
Article Date: 26 May 2009 - 1:00 PDT

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UroToday.com - In the only survey of BPS/IC conducted in Japan, done in urology clinics, the prevalence was estimated at 4.5/100,000 women.[Ito et al. 2000] Studies in Finland, Austria, and Taiwan using O'Leary-Sant questionnaires to identify persons with symptoms of BPS/IC have arrived at figures around 300/100,000 women.[Yu 2006;Leppilahti . 2005;Temml et al. 2007]

Inoue relooked at this question and used a web-based survey to evaluate 80,367 women with the O'Leary-Sant questionnaire. Total points of 7-11 were classified as moderate symptoms and 12-20 were severe symptoms. Patients with painful bladder syndrome were defined as those with "severe" symptoms accompanied by nocturia 2 or more times and 2 or more on the pain question.

The percentage of respondents who may have BPS/IC was 0.265%, or 265/100,000 women. This finding is in line with the European and Taiwanese study. The prevalence did not change appreciably over the span of 6 decades. It was 256/100,000 for women in their 20's and 265/100,000 for women over the age of 50. No relationship was found for social background, geographic location within Japan, occupation, marriage history, or child-raising.

This is an interesting and important addition to the literature. It demonstrates that the prevalence of BPS symptoms in Japan is similar to the rest of the world. This is all the more remarkable, as the disorder was hardly recognized in Japan 20 years ago. It suggests that the prevalence stays the same over time. In a disease where there is a very limited treatment effect, it is likely that many patients must be spontaneously improving, presuming that patients are contracting symptoms at a similar incidence rate over time. What is needed is a long-term study of a single large cohort over many years.

Inoue Y, Mita K, Kakehashi M, Kato M, Usui T
Neurourol Urodyn. 2009 Mar 3;28(3):214-218.
doi:10.1002/nau.20638

References:

Ito T, Miki M, Yamada T. Interstitial cystitis in Japan. BJU Int 2000; 86: 634-637.

Leppilahti M, Sairanen J, Tammela TL, Aaltomaa S, Lehtoranta K, Auvinen A. Prevalence of clinically confirmed interstitial cystitis in women: a population based study in Finland. J Urol 2005; 174: 581-583.

Temml C, Wehrberger C, Riedl C, Ponholzer A, Marszalek M, Madersbacher S. Prevalence and correlates for interstitial cystitis symptoms in women participating in a health screening project. Eur Urol 2007; 51: 803-808.

Yu H-J. Prevalence of Interstitial Cystitis in Taiwan. 2006.

Written by UroToday.com Contributing Editor Philip M. Hanno, MD, MPH

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