Adult urologyDevelopment and validation of a quality-of-life measure for men with nocturia☆
Section snippets
Instrument development
The Nocturia Quality-of-Life questionnaire (N-QOL) was developed in accordance with the needs-based model proposed by Hunt et al.,9 which stresses the importance of patient-based information about QOL impacts. This approach has been shown to increase the content validity and overall psychometric performance of the resulting health-related QOL measures. After a review of the literature, focus groups were held with four groups of 7 to 8 men with nocturia to discuss the impact of nocturia on their
Patient characteristics
The study included 107 men with a mean age of 68.2 years (range 32 to 88). Of the 107 men, 85% reported waking up to urinate twice or more per night, and 75.7% had experienced nocturia for more than 1 year. The most common causes of nocturia (as reported by the investigators) were benign prostatic obstruction (36.4%) and overactive bladder (6.5%).
Item reduction
Although by current definition any number of voids during the night is considered nocturia,1 nocturia once per night could be considered normal,
Comment
The N-QOL is the first questionnaire to assess specifically the impact of nocturia on QOL. It was constructed using a needs-based model to elicit subjective evaluations about the impact of nocturia in the words of the patients. The N-QOL is easily self-administered, taking approximately 5 minutes for the average patient to complete, and can be used in the clinical setting to complement clinical measures such as frequency-volume charts to facilitate treatment decision-making. The questionnaire
Conclusions
The N-QOL is a valid and reliable patient-based assessment of the impact of nocturia on the QOL of patients. It facilitates understanding of the impact of nocturia on patients' QOL and can complement clinical measures, aid treatment decision-making, and, potentially, evaluate new treatments for this condition.
Acknowledgements
To Jane Goodman, Jan Svihra, and Mauro Niero for their help in developing the N-QOL, and to Janne Thorp, Debbie Marsh, Wendy Robson, and Suzanne Biers for their help in carrying out the methods study.
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This research was funded by Pfizer Global Pharmaceuticals, Sandwich, United Kingdom.
P. Abrams, M. J. Drake, R. P. MacDonagh, and J. G. Noble are study investigators funded by the sponsor. M. L. Martin is a paid consultant to the sponsor.