001); four KHQ subscores (LUTS impact, physical limitations,

and emotional problems, and sleep/energy disturbances) in the severe LUTS group were significantly higher than those in the moderate LUTS group. In addition, excepting two one-item general questions, the first three greater disparities in the KHQ domains between the severe and mild LUTS groups were “emotion” (35.8 points on a 0–100 scale), “sleeping/energy” (34.5 points), and “physical limitation” (30.2 points), while the least disparities was found in the “personal relationships” domain (14.3 points) (Table 3). LUTS are highly prevalent, especially in men with advanced age. As an important outcome criterion, Pifithrin-�� manufacturer patients’ HR-QoL is incorporated into the treatment plan of patient-center care. In the present study, we tried to use the traditional Chinese version of the KHQ to assess the internal reliability and impact of LUTS severity on HR-QoL. The results showed that the questionnaire of KHQ and IPSS had suitable reliabilities (all Cronbach’s α coefficients >0.7), which is similar to those in the study by Okamura et al. in Japan.9 The construct validity is tested by the exploratory

factor analysis, and three components were identified. The first factor converged the items learn more in “LUTS impact”, “role limitations”, “physical limitations” and “social limitations”, which were called “limitation of daily life” as described by Okamura et al.9 Items in “emotions” 3-oxoacyl-(acyl-carrier-protein) reductase and “sleep/energy” were included in the second factors, while the third factor contained the items in “personal relationship”, which was consistent with the study by Okamura et al. in Japan.9 An important finding of our study was to compare the eight KHQ subscores according to LUTS severity. Although some KHQ subscales between severe and moderate LUTS groups were not significant, which can partially be explained by the small participants in severe LUTS group (n = 31), both severe and moderate LUTS groups had significantly higher subscores in all

KHQ domains than the mild LUTS group, and the severe LUTS group had significantly higher subscores in half of the KHQ domains than the moderate LUTS group. These analyses implied that there was an acceptable level of discriminant validity of the KHQ. Our study also found that the first three greatest disparities between the severe and mild LUTS groups were “Emotion”, “Sleeping/Energy”, and “Physical limitation” domains, implying that emotion and sleeping/ energy problems caused by LUTS are not less than the physical restrictions. The least disparity was found in the “personal relationships” domain, which was related to the items about the relationships with one’s partner and sexual life. However, previous studies reported that erectile dysfunction could be caused by LUTS.