Short forms of two condition-specific quality-of-life questionnaires for women with pelvic floor disorders (PFDI-20 and PFIQ-7)

• Published in: American journal of obstetrics and gynecology 2005-07, Vol.193 (1), p.103-113
• Main Authors: Barber, M.D., Walters, M.D., Bump, R.C.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Biological and medical sciences; Fecal incontinence; Fecal Incontinence - physiopathology; Fecal Incontinence - surgery; Female; Gynecology. Andrology. Obstetrics; Humans; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Nephrology. Urinary tract diseases; Pelvic floor; Pelvic Floor - physiopathology; Pelvic organ prolapse; Postoperative Period; Preoperative Care; Quality of Life; Surveys and Questionnaires - standards; Urinary incontinence; Urinary Incontinence - physiopathology; Urinary Incontinence - surgery; Urinary system involvement in other diseases. Miscellaneous; Urinary tract. Prostate gland; Uterine Prolapse - physiopathology; Uterine Prolapse - surgery
• ISSN: 0002-9378; 1097-6868
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ajog.2004.12.025

To develop short forms of 2 valid and reliable condition-specific quality-of-life questionnaires for women with disorders of the pelvic floor including urinary incontinence, pelvic organ prolapse, and fecal incontinence (Pelvic Floor Distress Inventory and Pelvic Floor Impact Questionnaire). Data from the 100 women who contributed to the development and validation of the Pelvic Floor Distress Inventory and Pelvic Floor Impact Questionnaire long forms were used to develop the short-form questionnaires. All subsets regression analysis was used to find the items in each scale that best predicted the scale score on the respective long form. When different items appeared equivalent, a choice was made on item content. After development, the short forms and the Pelvic Floor Distress Inventory and Pelvic Floor Impact Questionnaire long forms were administered preoperatively to 45 women with pelvic floor disorders scheduled to undergo surgery to evaluate the correlation between short and long forms in a second independent population. The short forms were readministered 3 to 6 months postoperatively to assess the responsiveness of the instruments. The short-form version of the Pelvic Floor Distress Inventory has a total of 20 questions and 3 scales (Urinary Distress Inventory, Pelvic Organ Prolapse Distress Inventory, and Colorectal-Anal Distress Inventory). Each short-form scale demonstrates significant correlation with their long-form scales (r = .86, r = .92, and r = .93, respectively, P < .0001). For the Pelvic Floor Impact Questionnaire short form, the previously developed short form for the Incontinence Impact Questionnaire-7 was used as a template. The 7 items identified in the previously developed Incontinence Impact Questionnaire-7 short form correlate highly with the Incontinence Impact Questionnaire long form (r = .96, P < .0001) as well as the long forms of the Colorectal-Anal Impact Questionnaire scale (r = .96, P < .0001) and the Pelvic Organ Prolapse Impact Questionnaire (r = .94, P < .0001). All subsets regression analysis did not identify any items or combination of items that correlated substantially better for any of the 3 scales. The scales of the Pelvic Floor Distress Inventory-20 and Pelvic Floor Impact Questionnaire-7 maintained their excellent correlation to the Pelvic Floor Distress Inventory and Pelvic Floor Impact Questionnaire long forms in the second independent sample (r = .88 to .94 for scales of Pelvic Floor Distress Inventory-20; r =