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Measuring quality of life in patients with stress urinary incontinence: is the ICIQ-UI-SF adequate?

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Abstract

Purpose

The International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire Short Form (ICIQ-UI-SF) is a widely used four-item patient-reported outcome (PRO) measure. Evaluations of this instrument are limited, restraining user’s confidence in the instrument. This study conducts a comprehensive evaluation of the ICIQ-UI-SF on a sample of urological surgery patients in Canada.

Methods

One hundred and seventy-seven surgical patients with stress urinary incontinence completed the ICIQ-UI-SF pre-operatively. Methods drawing from confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), measures of reliability, item response theory (IRT), and differential item functioning were applied. Ceiling effects were examined.

Results

Ceiling effects were identified. In the CFA, the factor loadings of items one and two differed significantly (p < 0.001) from item three indicating possible multidimensionality. The first two items reflect symptom severity not quality of life. Reliability was moderate as measured by Cronbach’s alpha (0.63) and McDonald’s coefficient (0.65). The IRT found the instrument does not discriminate between individuals with low incontinence-related quality of life.

Conclusions

Due to low/moderate reliability, the ICIQ-UI-SF can be used as a complement to other data or used to report aggregated surgical outcomes among surgical patients. If the primary objective is to measure quality of life, other PROs should be considered.

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Funding

This study was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and in-kind support of the Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) Authority.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Health Services and Policy Research, School of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia, 201-2206 East Mall, Vancouver, V6T 1Z3, Canada

    Zuzanna Kurzawa, Jason M. Sutherland & Guiping Liu

  2. Department of Surgery, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada

    Trafford Crump

Authors
  1. Zuzanna Kurzawa
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  2. Jason M. Sutherland
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  3. Trafford Crump
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  4. Guiping Liu
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jason M. Sutherland.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Kurzawa, Z., Sutherland, J.M., Crump, T. et al. Measuring quality of life in patients with stress urinary incontinence: is the ICIQ-UI-SF adequate?. Qual Life Res 27, 2189–2194 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-018-1872-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-018-1872-x

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