Recurrent UTI quality of life questionnaire: pilot study evaluating the impact of recurrent urinary tract infection on quality of life in postmenopausal women.
Academic Article
Overview
abstract
PURPOSE: Develop and validate a survey instrument to assess the impact of recurrent urinary tract infection (rUTI) on female quality of life (QoL) in postmenopausal women. METHODS: Following a detailed literature review, relevant items from existing QoL and anxiety/depression surveys were adopted to develop a rUTI-QoL questionnaire. The initial survey was administered to 36 women recruited from a urology clinic at a single institution from 2021 to 2022. Patients reported on problems experienced during the past 4 weeks due to UTI (17 items) and on their experiences of UTI symptoms and their feelings (25 items). Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin statistic and Bartlett’s test of sphericity analyzed sampling adequacy. Three-factor exploratory factor analysis was utilized to eliminate and merge items. Eigenvalues determined the number of components per section, and principal component analysis with varimax rotation identified items per construct. Cronbach’s alpha was evaluated per subscale and section for reliability. RESULTS: Items were eliminated and merged for a total of 9 items relating to problems experienced and 10 items relating to personal feelings. For problems experienced, the questionnaire measured domains related to daily role functioning and life enrichment activities. For personal feelings, the questionnaire measure depression, anxiety, and internalized blame. Cronbach’s alpha displayed satisfactory reliability for the two constructs. CONCLUSION: Pilot testing resulted in 25 item questionnaire assessing multiple QoL domains to be used for rUTIs in postmenopausal women. Further testing of this pilot study in larger, more diverse populations will be completed next for validation. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00345-026-06248-w.
