The Overactive Bladder: Epidemiology and Morbidity (original) (raw)

Overactive bladder (OAB), is defined by the International Continence Society (ICS), as a symptom syndrome suggestive of lower urinary tract dysfunction . It is a common and important medical problem faced by the health care community worldwide. Wagner and Hu reported that the total costs of urinary incontinence in the United States in 2000 were over 26billion.Ofthisamount,directcostsaccountedfor26 billion. Of this amount, direct costs accounted for 26billion.Ofthisamount,directcostsaccountedfor25.6 billion and indirect costs accounted for $700 million. It is unfortunate that we do not have a good cost analysis for patients who have OAB, including those who have ''OAB wet'' (OAB patients who have urge incontinence) and ''OAB dry'' (OAB patients who do not have urge incontinence). Hu and Wagner [3] noted that it is possible that the economic burden of OAB is even greater than that of urinary incontinence.