Recollected versus contemporary patient reports of pre-operative symptoms in men undergoing transurethral prostatic resection for benign disease

The objective of the study was to investigate the reliability of patients' recollected pre-intervention symptom status and the impact of those symptoms compared with contemporary pre-operative reports, and to test the stability of recollected views. In design (A) a self-completed symptom questionnaire was administered before (contemporary) and 3 months after (recollected) surgery. In design (B) a self-completed symptom questionnaire on recollected pre-operative symptoms was administered 12 and 14 weeks after surgery. Setting (A) comprised the twin consultant urological unit in the Chesterfield and North Derbyshire Royal Hospital NHS Trust, and setting (B) a sample from the National Prostatectomy Audit of 5281 patients. The subjects were 77 consecutive patients scheduled for transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP), and 170 consecutive respondents undergoing TURP. The main outcome measures were the difference in group mean scores for The American Urological Association (AUA) Symptom Index, Impact Index (a score of symptom impact), and 14 constituent questions; association assessed using Pearson's correlation coefficient; agreement assessed using weighted Kappa statistics. Complete paired data sets were available for 58 (75%) men for the Symptom Index, and for 61 (79%) men for the Impact Index. Pre-operative mean Symptom Index scores for contemporary and recollected were similar, as were mean scores for the Impact Index. However, only poor to fair levels of association and agreement were obtained for the Symptom Index (r = 0.6, kappa (w) = 0.3) and Impact Index (r = 0.6, kappa (w) = 0.3). Results for the constituent questions were similar.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)