Domain Comparison Between 6 Validated Questionnaires Administered to Women With Urinary Incontinence

Abstract

OBJECTIVESTo compare patients’ questionnaire-reported urinary incontinence (UI) symptoms to determine which have the best concordance. METHODSWomen with self-reported mixed UI were asked to report quality of life (QoL) due to urinary problems on a visual analog scale and complete 6 standardized validated questionnaires with questions on mixed UI (Medical Epidemiological and Social Aspects of Aging questionnaire, the Urogenital Distress Inventory short form [UDI-6], the Incontinence impact questionnaire short form [IIQ-7], the International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire Urinary Incontinence short form [ICIQ-SF], the King's Health Questionnaire [KHQ], and Patient Global Impression of Severity Scale [PGI-S]). Specific questions related to stress urinary incontinence (SUI), urgency urinary incontinence (UUI), UI severity, and QoL were compared within surveys from each patient with a Pearson correlation coefficient. RESULTSTwenty consecutive women participated in the study with a mean age of 64 ± 13 years and mean time to complete all surveys of 11.2 ± 5.4 minutes. In SUI and UUI subdomains, KHQ, UDI-6, and Medical Epidemiological and Social Aspects of Aging questionnaire were well correlated, however, specific ICIQ questions related to SUI and UUI were less often well correlated. For severity subdomains the UDI-6 score was poorly correlated with the KHQ, PGI-S, and ICIQ scores (all P> .1). KHQ correlated well with the PGI-S (0.64, P= .003) and ICIQ score (0.58, P= .008). PGI-S and ICIQ severity scores were also well correlated (0.56, P= .012). QoL on a VAS (range: 1-10) was significantly well correlated with both KHQ (0.75, P<.001) and the IIQ-7 (0.64, P= .003). KHQ and IIQ-7 were also well correlated (0.64, P= .003). CONCLUSIONIn this pilot study, validated questionnaires with questions regarding UI are mostly well correlated in women for subdomains of SUI, UUI, QoL, and severity. For UI symptoms and UI symptom severity the ICIQ and UDI-6, respectively, are poorly correlated with other survey results and may be less indicative of patient's complaints.