[The development and preliminary validation of the IU-4 questionnaire for the clinical classification of urinary incontinence].
BACKGROUND
To prepare and validate a simple and self-administered questionnaire for the clinical rating of patients with urinary incontinence (UI) for use in the clinical practice.


METHODS
The questionnaire was prepared based on a review of the literature on urinary incontinence and the views of 7 urodynamic urologists. The initial questionnaire UI-5 included 5 items related to UI symptoms that divided patients into three categories: stress incontinence (UEI), urge incontinence (UUI) or mixed urinary incontinence (MUI). An additional question evaluates the impact of UI type on the quality of life. The of construct validity was analyzed correlating the responses to UI-5 items and the question on quality of life. The area under the ROC curve was calculated for each UI type correlating the UI-5 scores and the results of the urodynamic test. The cut-off values for each scale were determined based on sensitivity (SE) and specificity (SP).


RESULTS
The study included 188 females with UI (73.4% with UEI, 13.3% with UUI and 13.3% with MUI; based on the urodynamics). Only 4.3% patients did not answer some UI-5 items. One item related to the protective material used was excluded as it was not related to UI types, and so the final questionnaire included only 4 items (UI-4). The results show that UI-4 discriminates the different types of incontinence: UEI (SE: 0.69/SP: 0.76; 1 item), UUI (SE: 0.83/SP: 0.65; 2 items), MUI (SE: 0.72/SP: 0.65; 1 item). 100% patients with MUI, 84% with UUI and 59.9% with UEI report some impact on their quality of life.


CONCLUSIONS
UI-4 is simple, valid and easy to administer, and can be particularly valuable in the clinical rating of UI in settings where urodynamic testing is not easily available such is primary health care.
Badia Llach
X
X
Institut de Salut Pública de Catalunya, Universidad de Barcelona.
Castro Díaz
D
D
Perales Cabañas
L
L
Pena Outeriño
J M
JM
Martínez-Agulló
E
E
Conejero Sugrañés
J
J
Arañó Beltrán
P
P
Marqués Queimadelos
A
A
Roset Gamisans
M
M
Perulero Escobar
N
N
D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D011788:Quality of Life; D012372:ROC Curve; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014549:Urinary Incontinence / Q000145:classification* / Q000503:physiopathology; D014563:Urodynamics