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A standardized telephone interview with validated questionnaires for very long‐term evaluation of women lost to follow‐up after a stress urinary incontinence procedure
Author(s) -
Kuprasertkul Amy,
Christie Alana L.,
Zimmern Philippe
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
luts: lower urinary tract symptoms
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.451
H-Index - 15
eISSN - 1757-5672
pISSN - 1757-5664
DOI - 10.1111/luts.12378
Subject(s) - medicine , distress , telephone interview , urinary incontinence , quality of life (healthcare) , interquartile range , physical therapy , surgery , nursing , clinical psychology , social science , sociology
Objectives Telephone interviews including questionnaires have been used to obtain very long‐term (>10‐year) follow‐up after stress urinary incontinence (SUI) procedures in women otherwise lost to follow‐up (LTF). For questionnaires validated for office use, our goal was to evaluate recent telephone vs last clinic scores in a long‐term study. Methods For women with >10 years of follow‐up after anterior vaginal wall suspension (AVWS) for bothersome SUI associated with an anterior compartment prolapse, questionnaire scores from their last clinic encounter were compared with their scores from a standardized telephone interview at long‐term follow‐up. The validated questionnaires were Urinary Distress Inventory 6‐Short Form (UDI‐6), International Incontinence Questionnaire 7‐Short Form (IIQ‐7), and Quality of Life (QoL). Results Eighty‐four women underwent a telephone interview (median follow‐up: 13.8 years, interquartile range [IQR]: 12.2‐17) after AVWS. The median difference between telephone and clinic visit was 10.2 years (IQR: 6.1‐12.2). The clinic UDI‐6 total score remained low but was higher than the phone score (mean difference 1.2, P = .0023). The UDI‐6 Q2, Q3, Q5, IIQ‐7, and QoL scores did not significantly differ between clinic and phone. For “incontinent” AVWS patients (UDI‐6 Q3 ≥ 2), there was a larger difference between clinic and phone UDI‐6 total score ( P < .0001), while “dry” patients (UDI‐6 Q3 ≤ 1) responded similarly. Conclusions In women who would otherwise be LTF after anti‐incontinence native tissue repair AVWS, UDI‐6 total score varied slightly between last clinic and long‐term follow‐up phone interviews, but QoL and IIQ‐7 remained similar.