The Incontinence Impact Questionnaire and the Urogenital Distress Inventory: A revisit of their validity in women without a urodynamic diagnosis

OBJECTIVES: We sought to assess validity of the Incontinence Impact Questio nnaire (IIQ) and the Urogenital Distress Inventory (UDI) (long and short fo rms) in incontinent women previously urodynamically undiagnosed. STUDY DESIGN: Post hoc analysis of responses to the IIQ and UDI questionnai res were obtained from a trial on a urethral device In community-dwelling I ncontinent women. Internal consistency and validity were evaluated against the 1-hour pad test. RESULTS: Internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha) for the long forms was hig h for the IIQ and moderately high for the UDI, good for the UDI-short, but poor for the UDI-short. Correlations with 1 h pad test were low and non-sig nificant for both versions. Correlation of the short with the long forms wa s high. CONCLUSION: In the community-dwelling population, without a urodynamic diag nosis, neither long nor short versions of the questionnaires correlate with the severity of the urinary Incontinence as shown by the pad test. The val idity of the current questionnaires in women without urodynamic diagnosis i s questionable.