[Validation of a new self-questionnaire to assess sexuality in patients operated on for urinary incontinence or genital prolapse (Pelvi-Perineal Surgery Sexuality Questionnaire - PPSSQ)]

Abstract

Introduction: The main objective of this study was to validate a new questionnaire evaluating sexual health, in a population of sexually active women or not, who have surgery for stress urinary incontinence or pelvic organ prolapse with or without mesh reinforcement.

Material and methods: After the development of a first version of the questionnaire by members from the main French societies involved in the study of women's sexuality, a linguistic validation of the content of the questionnaire was carried out through semi-structured interviews. Then, a psychometric validation was carried out in a prospective multicenter cohort study. The questionnaire was evaluated in terms of acceptability, quality, dimensionality, internal consistency, temporal stability, sensitivity to changes and construction validity.

Results: Linguistic validation was carried out in 25 patients. Psychometric validation was carried out in 297 women (291 with available data) operated on for urinary incontinence by midurethral sling (n=79) or for pelvic organ prolapse by the vaginal route with mesh (n=105), without mesh (n=22) or by laparoscopic sacrocolpopexy (n=85) between January 18, 2013 and January 18, 2016. Within the 288/291 women who had filed the question No. 1 allowing to know their sexual "status", 159 (55%) women were sexually active and 129 (45%) women were not sexually active before surgery. Within the 288 women, 165 had completed the questionnaire preoperatively and at 12 months and 111 had completed the questionnaire at 12 months and 12 months+1 week. The questionnaire was well accepted by the women and of good quality. All the questions were kept, but a change in the order and numbering of the questions had to be made. Two clinically relevant dimensions were identified in this analysis: a "sexual health" dimension comprising 5 questions and a "discomfort and pain" dimension comprising 3 questions. The overall questionnaire and both dimensions had good reliability and moderate to excellent temporal stability. A statistically significant association was demonstrated between question 15 and the improvement reported by PGI-I and the anatomical success rate on POP-Q classification. A strong correlation was found between the "sexual health" score and the total FSFI score.

Conclusion: The Pelvi-Perineal Surgery Sexuality Questionnaire (PPSSQ) is a 13-question self-questionnaire validated in a population of sexually active women or not, operated on for stress urinary incontinence or pelvic organ prolapse by laparoscopy or vaginal surgery, with or without mesh.

Level of evidence: 4.

Keywords: Chirurgie; Incontinence urinaire; Pelvic organ prolapse; Prolapsus génital; Questionnaire; Sexuality; Sexualité; Surgery; Urinary incontinence.