title: Outcomes of patients lost to followup after mid urethral synthetic slings--successes or failures?
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We classified patients lost to followup after mid urethral synthetic sling placement as examples of treatment success or failure based on the Patient Global Impression of Improvement, and compared the outcomes of those who followed up to the outcomes of those who did not.
  
  
  METHODS
  We reviewed the charts of 217 patients who underwent mid urethral synthetic sling placement. Telephone interviews including the Patient Global Impression of Improvement and the Medical, Epidemiological, and Social Aspects of Aging questionnaires were conducted for patients lacking 3-month followup.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Based on the Patient Global Impression of Improvement of the 48 patients who responded 13 (27.1%) were failures. The overall failure rate of patients with at least 3-month followup was 19% (23 of 124).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In our study success rates for patients lost to followup were similar to the rates for those who had routine followup. However, it is uncertain if these data can be applied to other study populations, especially in a randomized controlled trial.
authors.affiliation: Division of Urology, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky 40536-0298, USA. York.kballert@gmail.com
authors.forename: Katie N
authors.initials: KN
authors.lastname: Ballert
authors.forename: Amy E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Rose
authors.forename: Grace Y
authors.initials: GY
authors.lastname: Biggs
authors.forename: Nirit
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Rosenblum
authors.forename: Victor W
authors.initials: VW
authors.lastname: Nitti
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D012074:Remission Induction; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D053825:Suburethral Slings; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014550:Urinary Incontinence, Stress / Q000601:surgery*