Psychometric properties and validation of two global impression questionnaires (PGI-S, PGI-I) for stress incontinence in a German-speaking female population

Abstract

Aims: The Patient Global Index of Severity (PGI-S) and the Patient Global Index of Improvement (PGI-I) are global impression questionnaires developed in English and validated in women with stress urinary incontinence (SUI). This validation study tested the psychometric properties of German-language versions of the two questionnaires in German-speaking women with SUI.

Methods: The German-language PGI-S and PGI-I were psychometrically tested and validated using the SF-12 questionnaire, the Kinǵs Health Questionnaire (KHQ), clinical parameters, incontinence episode frequency and pad use in 311 patients before and 3 months after receiving a TVT-O or TVT tape for SUI.

Results: At baseline and 3 months postoperatively there was a positive correlation between PGI-S response categories and clinical parameters, IEF and pad use, and nearly all KHQ subscales. There were no correlations between response categories of PGI-S at baseline and PGI-I at 3 months and the SF-12 scales PCS-12 and MCS-12.

Conclusion: Our results demonstrated good psychometric properties of the German-language PGI-S and PGI in German-speaking women with SUI.

Keywords: PGI-I; PGI-S; psychometric properties; quality of lifestress; urinary incontinence; validation.