Transcultural adaptation and validation of the questionnaire “Urgency, Weak stream, Incomplete emptying and Nocturia (UWIN)” for the Brazilian Portuguese

Abstract

Lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) are common complaints in the adult male population and have a negative affect in the quality of life and represent an economic burden for the healthcare system worldwide. The International Prostatism Symptom Score (IPSS) is a validated tool for assessing these symptoms, but patients with low literacy may have difficulties comprehending and completing it accurately. The Urgency, Weak Stream, Incomplete Emptying, and Nocturia (UWIN) questionnaire was developed as a shorter tool in the assessment of LUTS to improve accuracy and minimize error. This study aimed at performing cross-cultural adaptation to Brazilian Portuguese and validation of UWIN questionnaire for patients with LUTS. The cross-cultural adaptation followed the steps of conceptual, item, semantic, operational, and pre-test equivalence to obtain the UWIN-Br version. The IPSS (gold standard) and UWIN-Br were coadministered, and information regarding the uroflowmetry examination was also recorded. We evaluated 306 men, median age 59 [52-66] years. There was a positive correlation r = 0.804 (p < 0.001) between the total IPSS score and the total UWIN-Br score, as well as the quality of life question (r = 0.761) (p < 0.001). The Bland-Altman plot showed good agreement between. Also, we observed that the maximum flow values decreased with the severity of the LUTS. UWIN-Br demonstrated excellent diagnostic accuracy in detecting the most severe cases. The area under the ROC curve was 89% [81–97%] 95% CI. 280 (91.5%) subjects completed the questionnaires without help, while 26 (8.5%) did so through an interview. The response time was 1.2 [1.0–1.5] min for UWIN-Br and 2.8 [2.2–3.4] min for IPSS (p < 0.001). UWIN-Br presents satisfactory and similar psychometric properties to the IPSS in the evaluation of LUTS and quality of life and is suitable for use in both clinical practice and research in our country.