Validation of the patient perception of intensity of urgency scale in patients with lower urinary tract symptoms associated with benign prostatic hyperplasia - Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To assess the reliability and validity of scores derived from the Patient Perception of Intensity of Urgency Scale (PPIUS) in patients with lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) associated with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH).

METHODS: A post hoc analysis of the phase II Solifenacin and Tamsulosin in Males with Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms Associated with Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia trial (NCT00510406), a 12-week clinical trial in men with LUTS associated with BPH, assessed the measurement properties of six PPIUS-derived scores: mean score; maximum urgency score; total urgency and frequency score (TUFS; average sum of urgency scores over 3 days); and numbers of urgency episodes, urgency episodes of grade 3 or 4, and urgency incontinence episodes. Test-retest reliability, presence of floor/ceiling effects, responsiveness to change, known-group validity, and concurrent validity were assessed for each score.

RESULTS: A total of 901 patients had at least one valid PPIUS assessment after baseline. TUFS demonstrated good test-retest reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient >0.8), discriminated between groups defined based on International Prostate Symptom Score storage score severity (known-groups validity), had high concurrent validity, and had high responsiveness to change (Guyatt's responsiveness statistic 0.88), with an absence of floor or ceiling effects. The psychometric properties of other PPIUS-derived scores were not as consistently robust and showed either low-to-moderate responsiveness, presence of a floor or ceiling effect, or low-to-moderate test-retest reliability.

CONCLUSIONS: This study shows that the PPIUS is reliable and valid in patients with LUTS associated with BPH. TUFS provided the best combination of psychometric properties of the six scores derived from the PPIUS and appeared to be an appropriate measure of urgency and frequency.

Written by:
Mathias SD, Crosby RD, Nazir J, Klaver M, Drogendijk T, Hakimi Z, Odeyemi IA.   Are you the author?
Health Outcomes Solutions, Winter Park, FL, USA; Neuropsychiatric Research Institute, Fargo, ND, USA; University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Grand Forks, ND, USA; 3Astellas Pharma Europe Ltd., Chertsey, UK; Astellas Pharma Global Development, Leiden, The Netherlands.  

Reference: Value Health. 2014 Dec;17(8):823-9.
doi: 10.1016/j.jval.2014.09.002


PubMed Abstract
PMID: 25498777

UroToday.com BPH Section