The Danish Prostatic Symptom Score (DAN-PSS-1) questionnaire is reliable in stroke patients.

AIMS

To investigate the test-retest reliability of Danish Prostatic Symptom Score (DAN-PSS-1) questionnaire in a sample of stroke patients.

METHODS

A prospective study design was used in which the stroke patients were invited to complete a postal self-administrated DAN-PSS-1 questionnaire twice. The questionnaire consists of 12 questions related to lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS). The participants were asked to state the frequency and severity of their symptoms (symptom score) and its impact on their daily life (bother score). Seventy-one stroke patients were included and 59 (83%) answered the questionnaire twice. The reliability test was done in two aspects: (a) detecting the frequency of each symptom and its bother factor, the scores were reduced to a two-category scale (=0, >0) and simple kappa statistics was used; (b) detecting the severity of each symptom and its bother factor, the total scale (0-3) and weighted kappa statistics was used.

RESULTS

The proportion of agreement for the frequency symptom scores ranged from 76% to 97% and the simple kappa coefficient ranged from poor (kappa = 0.00) to excellent (kappa = 0.91). The proportion of agreement for the corresponding bother scores ranged from 76% to 95% and the simple kappa coefficient ranged from good (kappa = 0.61) to excellent (kappa = 0.84). The weighted kappa coefficient for the severity symptom scores ranged from moderate (kappa(w) = 0.43) to good (kappa(w) = 0.75) and the corresponding bother scores ranged from moderate (kappa(w) = 0.48) to good (kappa(w) = 0.68).

CONCLUSIONS

The DAN-PSS-1 questionnaire had acceptable test-retest reliability and may be suitable for measuring the frequency and severity of LUTS and its bother factor in stroke patients.