Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2010 Nov;76(5):1245-50.
doi: 10.1016/j.urology.2010.01.027. Epub 2010 Mar 28.

Development and validation of an abbreviated version of the expanded prostate cancer index composite instrument for measuring health-related quality of life among prostate cancer survivors

Konrad M Szymanski  1 , John T Wei, Rodney L Dunn, Martin G Sanda
Affiliations

Development and validation of an abbreviated version of the expanded prostate cancer index composite instrument for measuring health-related quality of life among prostate cancer survivors

Konrad M Szymanski et al. Urology. 2010 Nov.

Abstract

Objectives: Widespread implementation of health-related quality-of-life (HRQOL) measurement in prostate cancer practice and research requires concise instruments. With 50 questions, the full-length Expanded Prostate Cancer Index Composite (EPIC) is cumbersome to administer outside of studies focusing exclusively on HRQOL. To facilitate HRQOL measurement in a broad range of prostate cancer research and practice settings, we developed and validated an abbreviated version of the EPIC.

Methods: The 50 questions that constitute the full-length EPIC-50 were evaluated to identify the items suitable for elimination while retaining the ability to measure the 5 prostate cancer-specific HRQOL domains of the EPIC-50. The resulting abbreviated version (EPIC-26) was validated using question responses from 252 subjects who had undergone brachytherapy, external beam radiotherapy, or prostatectomy for prostate cancer. The EPIC-26 internal consistency was measured by Cronbach's α coefficient and reliability using test-retest correlation.

Results: Using the high item-scale correlations, clinically relevant content, and preservation of domain psychometrics, 26 items were retained in the EPIC-26 from the 50 questions in the full-length EPIC-50. A high correlation was observed between the EPIC-50 and EPIC-26 versions for the urinary incontinence, urinary irritation/obstruction, bowel, sexual, and vitality/hormonal domain scores (all r ≥ 0.96). The correlations between the different domains were low, confirming that EPIC-26 retained the ability to discern the 5 distinct HRQOL domains. The internal consistency and test-retest reliability for EPIC-26 (Cronbach's α ≥ 0.70 and r ≥ 0.69, respectively for all 5 HRQOL domains) supported its validity.

Conclusions: EPIC-26 is a brief, valid, and reliable subjective measure of health quality among patients with prostate cancer and is suitable for measuring the HRQOL among patients undergoing treatment of early-stage prostate cancer.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
EPIC-26: The 26-item Extended Prostate Index Composite questionnaire (50% reduction in size of usable hardcopy format).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Litwin MS, Hays RD, Fink A, et al. Quality-of-life outcomes in men treated for localized prostate cancer. JAMA. 1995;273(2):129–135. - PubMed
    1. Madalinska JB, Essink-Bot ML, de Koning HJ, et al. Health-related quality-of-life effects of radical prostatectomy and primary radiotherapy for screen-detected or clinically diagnosed localized prostate cancer. J Clin Oncol. 2001;19(6):1619–1628. - PubMed
    1. Ware J, Jr, Kosinski M, Keller SD. A 12-Item Short-Form Health Survey: construction of scales and preliminary tests of reliability and validity. Med Care. 1996;34(3):220–233. - PubMed
    1. Cella DF, Tulsky DS, Gray G, et al. The Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy scale: development and validation of the general measure. J Clin Oncol. 1993;11(3):570–579. - PubMed
    1. Barry MJ, Fowler FJ, Jr, O'Leary MP, et al. The American Urological Association symptom index for benign prostatic hyperplasia. The Measurement Committee of the American Urological Association. J Urol. 1992;148(5):1549–1557. discussion 1564. - PubMed

Publication types