Validation of a questionnaire on pelvic organ function for neurological patients in Russia

Abstract

Background. Dysfunction of the bladder and intestinal tract, as well as sexual disorders, can be caused by pathologies of the pelvic organs themselves or changes in the control of these organs by the nervous system. Modern questionnaires are organ-specific and are intended for specific neurological disorders. Questionnaire on pelvic organ function is a valuable instrument for evaluation of complaints from neurological patients, therefore there is a necessity of creating an official adapted Russian version.Aim. Creation of a Russian-language version of the pelvic organ function questionnaire and its validation on a cohort of patients with neurological diseases.Materials and methods. Following international standards, validation of the questionnaire included linguistic and cultural adaptation and assessment of its psychometric properties. Approval of the Russian-language questionnaire version was obtained directly from the developer, Ryuji Sakakibara. The questionnaire was tested twice – before and after treatment. There were 48 patients over 18 years old (18 with Parkinson’s disease, 15 with multiple sclerosis, and 15 post-stroke).Results. The Median (IQR) age of patients was 56.5 (42–70.5) years. A Russian-language version of the questionnaire was developed during linguistic and cultural adaptation. This version of the questionnaire is posted in the text of this publication. It is also available on the website of the validation group of the international scales and questionnaires of the Research Center of Neurology. At the 2nd stage of validation, it was shown that the mean score in the sample was 2.03 ± 0.52 per question upon admission to the hospital and decreased significantly to 1.91 ± 0.51 per question on discharge (Wilcoxon test, p ˂ 0.0001). It confirms the questionnaire’s high sensitivity to changes in the clinical picture. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was 0.82 (p ˂ 0.001).It indicates the high level of internal consistency of the questionnaire. Significant Spearman’s coefficients prove criterion validity of the studied questionnaire compared to the established questionnaires.Conclusion. This Russian-language version of the pelvic organ function questionnaire is a useful assessment tool for patients’ complaints and disease dynamics. This work is valuable as an example of adapting a foreign scale or questionnaire to the local health care system.