Objective: Painful bladder syndrome/interstitial cystitis (PBS/IC) is an inflammatory bladder disease of unknown origin. Symptoms of PBS/IC compromise patients' quality of life (QoL). This study evaluated a health-related quality of life (HRQoL) questionnaire in PBS/IC.
Material and methods: 151 patients with PBS/IC filled in the HRQoL questionnaire before and after the treatment. Of these, 87 patients participated in a 3-month randomized study testing intravesical dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) and 64 patients took part in a 6-month randomized study evaluating oral cyclosporine A (CyA) and pentosan polysulfate sodium (PPS). The changes in HRQoL questionnaire were evaluated with respect to the changes in global response assessment (GRA).
Results: The results of the HRQoL questionnaire reflected well the post-treatment GRA. Patients responding to their treatment had improved QoL. CyA treatment had more impact on emotional well-being, social functioning, activity limitation days, pain and physical capacity than PPS treatment (p<0.05). More patients responded to DMSO than BCG treatment according to GRA (p<0.01), but the results in HRQoL questionnaire were equal after DMSO and BCG treatments.
Conclusions: The HRQoL questionnaire can be used in evaluating QoL in PBS/IC patients. Treatment of PBS/IC had obvious effects on QoL.