The development of a quality of life instrument for use with post-menopausal women with urogenital atrophy in the UK and Sweden

Many post-menopausal women suffer from oestrogen deficiency. This can cause urogenital atrophy which leads to symptoms such as dyspareunia, dysuria, v aginal dryness and urge incontinence. Even though urogenital atrophy is a c ommon condition, little attempt has been made to investigate the impact tha t the condition has on the quality of life of the women concerned. A qualit y of life instrument specifically for use with women with urogenital atroph y was developed. The needs-based approach to quality of life was adopted, w hich states that quality of life is the extent to which an individual is ab le to satisfy her needs. The development work was undertaken simultaneously in the UK and Sweden. The measure was found to be acceptable and relevant to women in both countries and to have good levels of test-retest reliabili ty (0.92 in the UK and 0.85 in Sweden), internal consistency (alpha coeffic ients 0.90 in both countries) and construct validity. It is suitable for us e in clinical trials and for monitoring the progress of patients in clinica l practice.