The Danish linguistic validation of the Ureteral Stent Symptoms Questionnaire.

INTRODUCTION

The aim of the study was to validate the Ureteral Stent Symptom Questionnaire (USSQ) in Danish for patients with indwelling ureteral stents.

METHODS

The linguistic validation of the original USSQ was performed following standardised multi-step translation procedures. Seventy patients with indwelling ureteral stents were asked to complete the Danish USSQ one and two weeks after stent placement and four weeks after stent removal.

RESULTS

A total of 65 patients (92.9%) completed the USSQ. Statistical evaluation revealed good internal consistency in all domains except work performance. Satisfactory convergent validity (less-than -0.4 or greater-than 0.4) was demonstrated for urinary symptoms, body pain and global quality of life. The test-retest reliability-coefficient was statistically significant for urinary symptoms, general health, pain and sexual matters. Inter-domain associations were positive and monotone for all subscales. All sub-scores, except sexual matters, significantly decreased from one week after stent insertion to four weeks after stent removal (p less-than 0.001).

CONCLUSION

The Danish USSQ is a reliable and valid instrument with which to evaluate urinary symptoms and general health in patients with indwelling ureteral stents.

FUNDING: Ideforum, Vejle Hospital, University Hospital of Southern Denmark, granted 80,000 DKK to support this work.

TRIAL REGISTRATION: The Danish National Ethics Committee and Region Syddanmark approved the study (Study approval number 20192000-168 and journal number 19-52219, respectively).