Validation of an Italian version of the prolapse quality of life questionnaire.

OBJECTIVE

To validate the italian translated version of the prolapse quality of life questionnaire (P-QOL).

STUDY DESIGN

The P-QOL questionnaire was translated into Italian and administered to women recruited from a gynaecology outpatient clinic. All women completed a P-QOL questionnaire at the time of the visit, and were examined in left lateral position using the ICS prolapse score. A second P-QOL questionnaire was posted and completed by women 1 week later. The validity was assessed by measuring levels of missing data, comparing symptom scores with objective prolapse stages and between affected and asymptomatic women. The reliability was assessed by testing internal consistency and stability using 1-week test retest analysis.

RESULTS

132 symptomatic and 61 asymptomatic women were studied. The number of missing items was 2%. P-QOL domain scores were significantly different between symptomatic and asymptomatic women (P<0.001). Severity according to P-QOL strongly correlated with the prolapse size (P<0.01, rho>0.5). All items achieved a Cronbach alpha greater than 0.8. The test retest reliability confirmed a highly significant correlation between the total scores for each domain.

CONCLUSION

The Italian version of the P-QOL questionnaire has been validated, providing a reliable, easily comprehensible and valid instrument for the symptomatic assessment of Italian-speaking women with uterovaginal prolapse.