Visual analogue scale, urinary incontinence severity score and 15 D--psychometric testing of three different health-related quality-of-life instruments for urinary incontinent women.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of this study is psychometric assessment of disease-specific questionnaire, Urinary Incontinence Severity Score (UISS) and Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) in urinary incontinent women. We also investigated functional relationship between UISS, VAS and 15D-valid, generic health-related quality-of-life (HRQoL) instrument.


METHODS
Eighty-two incontinent female patients were recruited for the study that included baseline investigation and re-evaluation 13 months (range 6-21 months) after treatment. Twenty-nine control women who had urinary incontinence but were not bothered by it completed the HRQoL measurements.


RESULTS
Internal consistency and content validity of UISS was good. Both measures UISS and VAS were reproducible, Spearman's rank correlation between test-retest were 0.88 and 0.85 respectively. The control women's UISS, 15D and VAS scores were significantly lower than the patient's scores (p<0.001, Mann-Whitney U test) which proves to be a good discriminant. The changes in pad test correlated moderately well with those in the VAS and UISS. The UISS, VAS and 15D in the improved group had responsiveness (Guyatt's) statistics: 1.48, 1.74 and -0.80 respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
The UISS and VAS proved to be valid, reproducible and responsive to treatment for UI women. The functionality of the 15D was good but it demonstrated less sensitivity to changes after treatment.
Stach-Lempinen
B
B
Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, South Karelia Central Hospital, Lappeenranta, Finland. beata.stach-lempinen@fimnet.fi
Kujansuu
E
E
Laippala
P
P
Metsänoja
R
R
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D010147:Pain Measurement; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011594:Psychometrics; D011788:Quality of Life; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D018434:Sickness Impact Profile; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014549:Urinary Incontinence / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology*