The need for voiding diaries in the evaluation of men with nocturia.

In a study to assess the need for voiding diaries in the evaluation of men with nocturia, 337 consecutive male patients were asked to estimate their number of voiding episodes per night. Patients were placed into seven separate groups based on the number of estimated number of voiding episodes. These patients used a voiding diary to track their voiding habits for 1 week. The mean number of voiding episodes recorded in the diaries were then compared with the subjects' original estimations. The estimated number of voiding episodes correlated with the mean number of diary-recorded voiding episodes 48% of the time. Correlation was highest for patients reporting few episodes per evening and lowest for those reporting five or six episodes per night. The study findings suggest that voiding diaries are essential in helping to determine the actual number of voiding episodes per night and that the need for a voiding diary becomes more important as the perceived amount of nocturia increases.