Short forms to assess life quality and symptom distress for urinary incontinence in women: The incontinence impact questionnaire and the urogenital distress inventory

TLDR

Urinary incontinence in women affects life and symptom distress, which are measured by the IIQ and UDI. The study presents short‑form versions of the Incontinence Impact Questionnaire and the Urogenital Distress Inventory. Item subsets were selected using all‑subsets regression to approximate the long‑form scores. The method reduced the IIQ to 7 items and the UDI to 6 items, and these short forms may be more useful than the long forms in clinical and research settings.

Abstract

This article describes short form versions of the Incontinence Impact Questionnaire (IIQ) and the Urogenital Distress Inventory (UDI). These instruments assess life impact and symptom distress, respectively, of urinary incontinence and related conditions for women. All subsets regression analysis was used to find item subsets that best approximated scores of the long form versions. The approach succeeded in reducing the 30-item IIQ and the 19-item UDI to 7- and 6-item short forms, respectively. The short form versions may be more useful than the long form versions in many clinical and research applications.