4 Previous studies on the impact of LUTS on HR-QoL used the general HR-QoL scale such as the Medical Outcomes Study Short Form Health Survey5 or disease-specific scales,6,7 rather than the King’s Health Questionnaire (KHQ). The KHQ is a multidimensional questionnaire and initially designed for women with urinary incontinence check details in the UK to assess HR-QoL.8 Considering that the KHQ is relatively comprehensive and all items address “bladder problems”, it seems that the KHQ can be a potentially applicable tool for evaluating HR-QoL impact on

people with LUTS. In the recent decade, the KHQ has been validated9 and applied to assess the HR-QoL for Japanese with general LUTS.10–13 The English version of KHQ has also been translated to traditional Chinese by linguistic and clinical validation for patients with overactive bladder by the Taiwanese Continence Society in 2009,14 and limited disease-specific HR-QoL measurement for men with general LUTS has been found in Taiwan. Thus, the present study was conducted to test the reliability and validity of the traditional Chinese version of the KHQ, and understand the impact of LUTS on HR-QoL. This is a cross-sectional and descriptive study with self-administered questionnaires. A convenience sample of people

aged 40 years or older who visited a public health center in Pingtung, Taiwan, between April and June of 2010 were offered the opportunity to participate PLX4032 order in this study. After answering the International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS) questionnaire, those with at least scores of 1 in IPSS were asked to complete the KHQ. Of 449 men with LUTS, 56 men (12.5%) did not complete the KHQ survey. Therefore, a final sample of 393 men was resulted. The study was approved by the research ethics committee of the local university and all participants provided informed consent. The IPSS, which Idoxuridine was originally developed by the American Urological

Association for a treatment outcome measure of benign prostate hyperplasia,15 is a popular indicator of the severity of LUTS. The IPSS includes seven questions regarding three filling symptoms (frequency, urgency, and nocturia) and four voiding symptoms (incomplete emptying, intermittent stream, weak urinary stream, straining). Each item has six choices scored from 0 (absence of symptom) to 5 (symptom always present). The total scores ranged from 0 to 35 (poor conditions) and the LUTS severity were categorized as mild (IPSS 1–7), moderate (8–19), or severe (20–35). The HR-QoL was measured by 16 questions derived from the KHQ. According to the methods used in the study by Okamura et al.