COMPARISON OF SUBJECTIVE AND OBJECTIVE MEASURES OF SEVERITY OF URINARY-INCONTINENCE IN WOMEN

The aims of this study were to compare ''subjective'' measures of seve rity of urinary incontinence to similar ''objective'' measures, establ ish their statistical correlation, and determine the effect of specifi c urodynamic diagnosis on such correlations. Baseline data was availab le from 265 women entered into a clinical trial studying pharmacologic and behavioral interventions for urinary incontinence. The ''subjecti ve'' measures of incontinence were obtained by patient recall during h istory taking and included: the number of incontinent episodes in 1 we ek, the number of perineal pads used during 1 week, and the number of clothing changes required due to wetness. The ''objective'' measures o f severity included: the number of incontinent episodes per week as re corded on a 7-day diary, the number of perineal pads used per week, al so recorded on a diary, and the amount of fluid lost during a standard ized pad test. Analysis consisted of Pearson correlations and linear r egressions to determine equations for the prediction of objective meas urement on the basis of the corresponding subjective measure. Signific ant positive correlations were seen between ''subjective'' and ''objec tive'' measurements for the comparisons of number of weekly incontinen t episodes (R = 0.63), and for the weekly number of pads used (R = 0.8 1). The comparison between the number of clothing changes and the amou nt of fluid lost during pad testing was also significantly but less st rongly correlated (R = 0.24). For the correlations between subjective and objective determinations of urinary incontinent episodes and for t hose between clothing changes and pad testing, the urodynamic diagnosi s had no effect on the correlation coefficients, but did have a statis tically significant effect on the intercept. ''Subjective'' measures o f severity of urinary incontinence will provide a reasonable estimate of ''objective'' measures of severity of urinary incontinence in women . Therefore in a clinical setting, it seems logical to use ''subjectiv e'' measures to assess both baseline severity and response to interven tion. (C) 1995 Wiley-Liss, Inc.