A randomized crossover trial to examine administration techniques related to the Bristol female lower urinary tract...

To investigate whether two methods of assessing lower urinary tract symptoms, interview-assisted standardized questionnaires, and self-completed standardized questionnaires, were comparable.

Women referred to a tertiary urogynecology urodynamic clinic with lower urinary tract symptoms were recruited. The psychometrically robust Bristol Female Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms (BFLUTS) questionnaire was used to assess urinary symptoms. A randomized crossover design for questionnaire completion was used: Group A-an initial interview-assisted questionnaire at the urodynamic clinic with a follow-up postal questionnaire; or Group B-an initial pre-out-patient postal questionnaire followed up by a second interview-assisted questionnaire whilst attending a scheduled urodynamic clinic.

A total of 114 women were randomized for initial questionnaire administration method to achieve 72 completed sets (63%). Total scores were higher on self-completion compared to interview, this difference was not significant [t = -1.951, P > 0.05]. No item had perfect agreement between postal and interview methods and generally, interview-assisted questions had lower scores, indicating better health status. The items with the worst agreement (slight or moderate) were those concerned with sexual health, with women giving lower scores, exaggerating health on interview. For example bother of vaginal discomfort (kappa(w) = 0.09), compared to question assessing frequency (kappa(w) = 0.65).

This data suggests women respond differently to the BFLUTS questionnaire when data is collected by self-completion in the woman's home compared to interviews. No individual question item had perfect agreement between the two methods of administration. Overall, individual question items were scored higher on self-completion than interview.