Does condition‐specific quality of life correlate with generic health‐related quality of life and objective incontinence severity in women with stress urinary incontinence?

Aims We examined the impact of stress urinary incontinence (SUI) on health‐related quality of life (QOL) and evaluated the relationships between incontinence‐specific QOL and objective disease severity. Methods A total of 158 women (mean age 49.9) suffering from SUI were included in the study. The Medical Outcomes Study Short Form‐36 (SF‐36) and the King's Health Questionnaire (KHQ) were used to assess QOL in the patient and control groups. Results The SF‐36 scores did not show any significant differences between the two groups except for one domain (physical functioning, P  = 0.005). The patient KHQ scores were significantly lower than those of the controls ( P  < 0.001 for all domains). The scores of the KHQ domains correlated with those of the SF‐36 domains, but the relationship was low to moderate, ranging from −0.033 to −0.686. However, they did not correlate with Valsalva leak point pressure (VLPP). When patients were divided into the low VLPP group (n = 60) and the higher VLPP group (n = 98), statistically significant differences were found between the groups for general health domains of the SF‐36 ( P  = 0.010) and of the KHQ ( P  = 0.027). No statistically significant differences were found in other domains of both questionnaires. Conclusions The generic QOL instrument is not a sensitive tool for measuring QOL in women with SUI. In addition, our findings suggest that objective disease severity is not associated with generic or incontinence‐specific QOL. Neurourol. Urodynam. © 2006 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.