Correlation Between Mobile-Application Electronic Bowel Diary and Validated Questionnaires in Women with Fecal...

Area of Science:

• Urology
• Gynecology
• Gastroenterology

Background:

• Fecal incontinence (FI) management lacks standardized mobile-app outcome measures.
• Mobile-app bowel diaries offer potential for real-time symptom tracking.
• Correlation data between mobile-app diaries and validated questionnaires for FI are limited.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the correlation between mobile-app diary-recorded fecal incontinence episodes (FIEs) and validated questionnaire scores.
• To evaluate if percentage reduction in FIEs/week on a mobile app correlates with changes in FI symptom measures over 12 weeks.
• To compare mobile-app diary outcomes with questionnaire-based results in women undergoing percutaneous tibial nerve stimulation (PTNS) versus sham treatment.

Main Methods:

• Secondary analysis of a multicenter randomized trial comparing PTNS and sham treatments for FI.
• Fecal incontinence episodes (FIEs) collected via mobile-app diary at baseline and 12 weeks.
• Validated FI questionnaires included St. Mark's, Accidental Bowel Leakage Evaluation, FI Severity Index (FISI), and others. Spearman's correlation (ρ) analyzed the relationship between %-reduction in FIEs/week and questionnaire score changes.

Main Results:

• 163 women (109 PTNS, 54 sham) with FI participated.
• A significant correlation (p<0.005) was found between %-reduction in FIEs/week and all questionnaire scores.
• Moderate-strength correlations (|ρ|>0.4) observed for St. Mark's (ρ=0.48), FISI (ρ=0.46), Patient Global Impression of Improvement (PGI-I) (ρ=0.51), and Patient Global Symptom Control (PGSC) (ρ=-0.43).

Conclusions:

• A moderate correlation exists between mobile-app diary FIEs and validated FI symptom questionnaire scores.
• This suggests mobile-app bowel diaries are a viable tool for assessing treatment outcomes in FI.
• Findings support the integration of mobile health technology in FI management and research.