Questionnaires for women with urinary symptoms

AIMS: To identify the characteristics of optimal symptom questionnaires in women with lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS). METHODS: Literature review. RESULTS: Although numerous questionnaires have been developed for the evaluation of female LUTS, no one instrument has emerged as that preferred for collecting and reporting subjective information about LUTS in women. Questionnaires currently available range widely in intended purpose, extent and style, and in the quality of testing used to validate them. CONCLUSIONS: Questionnaires should be constructed based on scientifically sound validation techniques that reflect disease and/or symptoms in the target population. They should be concise, easily administered and scored, discriminant between sphincter and bladder causes of incontinence, and able to measure severity and the effect of the symptom on the patient.