Most of the questions referred to the impact of bladder, bowel or vaginal function on activities such as employment, entertaining and travel. In 100 women, the authors demonstrated the validity, internal consistency and reproducibility of both instruments. They reported both a strong correlation between the original UDI and IIQ and clinical UI and a significant correlation between the POPIQ and CRAIQ and the stage of POP and number of fecal incontinent episodes per month. These questionnaires took an average of 23 min to complete. To make them easier to use in a clinical setting, shorter versions have been developed and validated.[21] Because these instruments capture

the larger spectrum of POP and its associated bladder and bowel disorders, selleck compound they have been evaluated in numerous studies for their potential to better define the relationship between objective physical findings and subjective

symptoms, to more accurately assess outcome measures in determining treatment efficacy and to better compare efficacy among different treatment modalities. These questionnaires have been validated in Arabic, French, Turkish, Spanish, Portuguese and Chinese, extending these areas of investigation to include populations of women from different cultures.[22-27] In 2004, Digesu et al. developed a short and easily completed Prolapse Quality of Life (P-QOL) questionnaire, partly in response to the lengthy PFDI and PFIQ.[28] The P-QOL contained 20 questions covering general health, prolapse impact, physical and social limitations, personal relationships, emotional problems, sleep or energy disturbances, sexual problems and measurements of symptom severity. The validity and reliability Daporinad of this instrument was tested in 235 women (155 symptomatic and 80 asymptomatic Parvulin controls), 91.5% of whom completed the questionnaire. The scores were significantly different between asymptomatic and symptomatic women. There was strong correlation between

the severity of the score on P-QOL and the clinical findings at vaginal examination. These results suggested that this questionnaire might be effective in identifying women requiring treatment for POP. The electronic personal assessment questionnairepelvic floor (ePAQ-PF) was developed from the Birmingham Bowel and Urinary Symptoms Questionnaire,[29] the Shefffield Prolapse Symptoms Questionnaire[30] and the Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI) questionnaire.[31] It evaluates the impact of pelvic floor symptoms on QOL in four areas: urinary, bowel, vaginal and sexual, and has additional domains on dyspareunia and general sex life. The questionnaire was validated in 432 women recruited from primary care, urogynecology and community health clinics,[32] and evaluated for responsiveness to change.[33] The use of the Visual Analog Scale (VAS) type scale instead of the Likert-type scale to assess degree of symptoms bother has been proposed to overcome shortcomings of the Likert-type scale used in most QOL questionnaires.