[Validation of a French adaptation of the international prostatic symptom score]

To evaluate the reliability and the validity of a French Canadian version of the International Prostatic Symptom Score.

Between November 23, 1993 and April 8, 1994, a self-administered questionnaire was submitted to a group of men on two occasions at an interval of at least one week. This questionnaire was composed of seven questions designed to score the severity of prostatic symptoms and two questions designed to score quality of life.

Family medicine unit and prostatic cancer screening programme of the hormonal treatment clinic of the Laval University hospital centre.

Men between the ages of 50 and 80 years presenting for prostatic cancer screening or for a family medicine visit were invited to participate. A total of 207 men answered the questionnaire on the first occasion and all but two answered the questionnaire on the second occasion. MAIN ASSESSMENT CRITERIA: The internal consistency of the scale, its test-retest stability, the correlation between the prostatic symptom index of the scale and the quality of life index and the urine output were estimated.

The internal consistency of the scale has found to be good, with Cronbach's coefficient alpha equal to 0.82. Each question of the scale displayed a good test-retest stability, with coefficient Kappa varying between 0.41 and 0.66 according to the question. The correlation coefficient between the prostatic symptom index of the scale and the quality of life index was 0.75 (P < 0.001). An inverse linear relationship was observed between urine output and the prostatic symptom index, with a correlation coefficient of -0.289 (p < 0.001).

The psychometric qualities of the adapted scale, evaluated during the present study, are similar to the qualities of the original English language I-PSS scale. The present French version of the scale constitutes a reliable and valid tool to assess the severity of prostatic symptoms in the Quebec male population.