Department of Medical Pathophysiology, University of Rome La Sapienza, Rome, Italy.
J Sex Med. 2010 Mar;7(3):1139-46. doi: 10.1111/j.1743-6109.2009.01635.x. Epub 2009 Dec 1.
A limiting step in the evaluation of female sexual dysfunction (FSD) is the availability of a rapid screening procedure. Often, practitioners avoid investigating sexual symptoms due to concerns of insufficient time or lack of proper tools to address FSD.
The purpose of this study was to prepare and validate an abridged form of the most popular psychometric diagnostic test (Female Sexual Function Index, FSFI-19) to provide a fast screener of FSD for easy use in outpatient visits, epidemiological studies, and assessment of treatment response.
We interviewed and administered the FSFI-19 to 200 women attending outpatient clinics for sexual and reproductive medicine. Forty women were excluded because they had no sexual activity or failed to attend the retest visit. Patients were evaluated on two subsequent visits to validate the abridged form of the questionnaire. Overall, 105 were found to suffer from a FSD.
We assessed, individually, the sensibility and sensitivity of all questions of the full-length FSFI. We then estimated the performance of each item with respect to the specific sexual domain they address. By selecting the best combination of performing items in each domain, we built an abridged, 6-item form of the FSFI.
The Receiver Operating Characteristic curves of the FSFI-6 showed that women who scored <or=19 were classified as having FSD. Using the cut-off of 19, the sensitivity and specificity of the test were, 0.93 and 0.94, respectively. Reliability, internal consistency, and stability on retest were also good.
The abridged FSFI-6 is a valuable tool for screening women that are likely to suffer from FSD. In six simple questions, taking no more than 3 minutes, a score of less than 19 indicates the need for further investigations, including the full-length FSFI-19 and a dedicated interview. In conclusion, this is a novel tool that can help any doctor to disclose FSD rapidly and efficiently.
女性性功能障碍（FSD）评估的一个限制步骤是快速筛选程序的可用性。由于担心时间不足或缺乏适当的工具来解决 FSD，医生通常避免调查性症状。
本研究旨在编制和验证最受欢迎的心理计量学诊断测试（女性性功能指数，FSFI-19）的简化形式，为 FSD 提供快速筛查工具，便于在门诊、流行病学研究和治疗反应评估中使用。
我们对 200 名在性和生殖医学门诊就诊的女性进行了访谈和 FSFI-19 测试。40 名因无性行为或未能参加复查而被排除在外。在随后的两次就诊中对患者进行评估，以验证问卷的简化形式。共有 105 名患者被诊断为 FSD。
我们单独评估了完整 FSFI 的所有问题的敏感性和特异性。然后，我们根据每个问题所涉及的特定性领域来评估每个项目的表现。通过在每个领域中选择表现最好的项目组合，我们构建了一个简化的 FSFI-6 形式。
FSFI-6 的受试者工作特征曲线表明，得分<或=19 的女性被归类为患有 FSD。使用 19 的截止值，该测试的敏感性和特异性分别为 0.93 和 0.94。可靠性、内部一致性和重测稳定性也很好。
简化的 FSFI-6 是筛查可能患有 FSD 的女性的有价值的工具。在六个简单的问题中，不超过 3 分钟即可完成，得分低于 19 表明需要进一步调查，包括完整的 FSFI-19 和专门的访谈。总之，这是一种新的工具，可以帮助任何医生快速有效地发现 FSD。
