Comparison of two questionnaires for assessing the severity of urinary incontinence: The ICIQ-UI SF versus the incontinence severity index.
OBJECTIVE
To compare the International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire-Urinary Incontinence Short Form (ICIQ-UI SF) with the Incontinence Severity Index (ISI), and to propose intervals for four severity levels of ICIQ-UI SF.


METHODS
Cross-sectional, Internet-based study of 1,812 women responding to a general health questionnaire. Four severity levels for the ICIQ-UI SF scores were constructed by iteratively adjusting the ranges for these levels until maximum Kappa scores were obtained when cross-tabulated with the ISI in a random sample of half of the women with urinary incontinence. Using these intervals, weighted Kappa was calculated for the remaining women as a validation process.


RESULTS
Three hundred forty-three women had urinary incontinence, and completed the ISI and the ICIQ-UI SF. A high correlation between the ISI and ICIQ-UI SF scores with versus without the QoL item was found (Spearman's rho = 0.62, P < 0.01 vs. rho = 0.71, P < 0.01, respectively). Maximum Kappa with quadratic weighting was obtained for the following scale for the ICIQ-UI SF: slight (1-5), moderate (6-12), severe (13-18) and very severe (19-21) (Kappa = 0.61), and without the QoL item: slight (1-3), moderate (4-5), severe (6-9) and very severe (10-11) (Kappa = 0.71) in the development sample. Correspondingly, for the validating sample, maximum Kappa with quadratic weighting was 0.61 and 0.74.


CONCLUSIONS
A high correlation between the ICIQ-UI SF and the ISI was found. The ICIQ-UI SF may be divided into the following four severity categories: slight (1-5), moderate (6-12), severe (13-18) and very severe (19-21). Neurourol. Urodynam. 28:411-415, 2009. (c) 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
Klovning
Atle
A
Department of Public Health and Primary Health Care, Section for General Practice, University of Bergen, Kalfarveien, 31, N-5018, Bergen, Norway. atle.klovning@medisin.uio.no
Avery
Kerry
K
Sandvik
Hogne
H
Hunskaar
Steinar
S
D000328:Adult; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet; D008875:Middle Aged; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014549:Urinary Incontinence / Q000175:diagnosis*; D016387:Women's Health