Aims: Urinary incontinence is a common symptom in many diseases as well as in general population. To measure the impact of urinary incontinence (UI) on individual's quality of life the English short form International Consultation on Incontinence questionnaire (ICIQ-UI Short Form) has been developed, which consists of three scored and one self-diagnostic question. Our aim was to translate the ICIQ-UI Short Form into Slovene, re-validate it, and test the diagnostic value of the questionnaire in determining the type of UI.
Methods: ICIQ-UI Short Form was translated into Slovene and re-validated. In the validation process we included urology and gynecology outpatient clinics attendants, elderly institutionalized patients, and a community sample. One group of patients underwent urodynamic testing and the results were compared to their responses to question six of the ICIQ-UI Short Form. Both sets of answers were compared using the Kappa (kappa) statistics.
Results: The Slovene version of the ICIQ-UI Short Form was found to be valid (excellent test-retest reliability, good internal consistency, good responsiveness to change, and reflected well underlying theories). The questionnaire correlated well with urodynamic findings. The perceived cause of leakage (Question 6) was a good indicator of objectively proven cause of incontinence (Kappa value 0.77).
Conclusions: We found that the Slovene version of the ICIQ-UI Short Form is a valid and reliable questionnaire for assessment of UI. In addition to its ability to assess the impact of UI on individual's quality of life it also has a diagnostic value of the cause of incontinence.
(c) 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.