DOES THE MODE OF QUESTIONNAIRE ADMINISTRATION AFFECT THE REPORTING OFURINARY SYMPTOMS

Objectives. To assess the effect of modes of administration (self-admi nistered questionnaires, oral face-to-face interview, and telephone in terview) on responses to the American Urological Association Symptom I ndex (AUASI) in randomly selected community men. Methods. An age-strat ified random sample of 475 white male residents of Olmsted County, Min nesota, aged 40 to 79 years, without prior prostate surgery or prostat e cancer were queried about urinary symptom frequency twice at baselin e and twice approximately 2 years later using questions with wording s imilar to the AUASI. At baseline and first follow-up, questionnaires w ere self-administered initially, followed by a structured interview by a female urology nurse within 2 to 28 weeks. A subset of 200 randomly selected men received a telephone interview by a female research assi stant following the self-administered questionnaire given at a second follow-up approximately 4 years after baseline. Results. Mean symptom scores obtained by oral interview were 1 to 2 points lower than those from self-administrated questionnaires (P < 0.01). In a random subset (n = 200) interviewed by telephone, mean AUASI scores were as much as 4 points lower than those from self-completed questionnaires. Conclusi ons. Values of the AUASI obtained by interviewer administration may be lower than those obtained by self-administered questionnaires. When a ssessment of change in urinary symptoms over time is of interest, the same standardized method of questionnaire administration should be use d at baseline and follow-up evaluations to avoid introducing artifactu al differences related to the mode of administration.