Abstract

Introduction. Overactive bladder (OAB) is a condition that is diagnosed by at least one of three symptoms: pollakiuria, nocturia, and strong urinary urgency. Overactive bladder is a social disease. It is estimated that problems with OAB affect from 2% to 53% of the population.

Objective. The objective of the study was to assess the incidence of overactive bladder in a group of potentially healthy people and to assess the risk factors for OAB.

Material and methods. The study group consisted of 85 students (58 women and 27 men) of Warsaw Universities, mainly students of courses in the field of physiotherapy. The mean age was 26 (SD = 5.74). The research tools were: the author’s questionnaire, voiding diary, GPPAQ (The General Practice Physical Activity Questionnaire) and the strip test.

Results. The analysis of data obtained from voiding diaries showed that the most common symptom of OAB was strong urinary urgency (33 people – 39%), followed by pollakiuria (21 people – 25%) and nocturia (15 people – 18%). There was a significant correlation between strong urinary urgency and gender (p = 0.03) and between strong urinary urgency and physical activity (p = 0.04).

Conclusions. 1. The group of potentially healthy students experienced symptoms of overactive bladder, such as pollakiuria, strong urinary urgency and nocturia. 2. The most common symptom of overactive bladder was urinary urgency. 3. Strong urinary urgency was more common among women and physically inactive people.

Key words:

overactive bladder, risk factors, physical activity