Objectives: To determine the health utility values (HUVs) of overactive bladder (OAB) among adults aged ≥65 years and to assess the HUV decrements (disutilities) of OAB according to its severity. Methods: This cross-sectional Internet-based study was conducted between 2 and 9 November 2023, with quota sampling with equal probability for each gender and age group (age 65–74 years and ≥75 years). OAB was defined as an urgency score of ≥2 points and a total score of ≥3 points based on the Overactive Bladder Symptom Score. OAB severity was categorized as mild (total score, ≥5 points) or moderate-to-severe (total score, 6–15 points). HUVs were measured using the EuroQol 5-Dimension 5-Level value set for the Japanese population. Multivariable linear regression models were fitted to estimate the covariate-adjusted disutilities of OAB, with eight covariates selected based on previous studies. Results: Among the 998 participants (51.9% male; median age, 75 years), 158 (15.9%) had OAB, of whom 87 (8.8%) had moderate-to-severe OAB. The mean HUVs for participants with mild and moderate-to-severe OAB were 0.874 and 0.840, respectively, which were lower compared with the HUV for those without OAB (0.913). After adjusting for relevant covariates, disutilities (95% confidence intervals [CIs]) for mild and moderate-to-severe OAB were −0.0334 (−0.0602 to −0.0066) and −0.0591 (−0.0844 to −0.0339), respectively. Conclusions: This study examined HUVs in older Japanese adults with and without OAB. The results demonstrate that increased OAB severity is associated with greater disutility.

TY has received the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) KAKENHI grant (grant number: 21K17228) for conducting the survey. RG has received grants for the evaluation of the cost-effectiveness of medicines and medical devices from the National Institute of Public Health, Japan since 2019, which support the consultation fees for the development of search strategies and will support the article publication fee. KO, SF, and TM have no conflicts of interest to declare. The funders did not participate in the study design, data collection, analysis, interpretation, manuscript preparation, review, approval, or decision to submit the manuscript for publication.

This study was supported by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science KAKENHI grant (grant number: 21K17228) for conducting the survey. This study was also supported by the National Institute of Public Health for the language editing fee and article publishing charge.

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The details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below:

All respondents completed online questionnaires after providing digital informed consent indicating their willingness to participate in the survey. Participants received monetary points as an incentive for participation. All the procedures adhered to the ethical guidelines of the 1975 Declaration of Helsinki and its subsequent 2013 revision. This study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of Keio University School of Medicine (approval number: 20221120). This study followed the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) guidelines for cross-sectional studies.

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The datasets generated and analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.