title: The incontinence impact questionnaire: results in an Italian female population stratified by educational status.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine the response rate to the self-administered Incontinence Impact Questionnaire (IIQ) in an Italian female population.
  
  
  METHODS
  172 consecutive patients referred to the urogynecological department of an urban university teaching hospital were invited to answer the self-administered IIQ. Correlations were investigated between answer rate, age, educational status and urogenital pathology.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Only 41.6% of patients with low educational status answered all questions compared with 47.6 and 58% of medium and high educational status (p = 0.038 and p = 0.011 respectively). Mean patient age correlated inversely with educational status (rho = -0.443; p < 0.0001) and directly with non-response rate (rho = 0.207; p = 0.007). The non-response rate was correlated significantly and inversely with educational status only in continent patients (rho = -0.254; p = 0.037) and in patients with pelvic organ prolapse (rho = -0.256; p = 0.017).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The IIQ answer rate correlated directly with educational status in an Italian female population.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical-Surgical Specialties and Public Health, Urology and Andrology Section, University of Perugia, Perugia, Italy.
authors.forename: Elisabetta
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Costantini
authors.forename: Massimo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lazzeri
authors.forename: Vittorio
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Bini
authors.forename: Michele
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Del Zingaro
authors.forename: Ervin
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kocjiancic
authors.forename: Massimo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Porena
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D007802:Language; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014549:Urinary Incontinence / Q000175:diagnosis*