Development of a quality of life scale specific for patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia

Abstract

The improvement of quality of life (QoL) should be the major concern in any proposed treatment modality for any disorder. The objective of this study was to develop a new easy to use benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH)-specific QoL scale that may guide the treatment policy in BPH. A total of 118 items addressing BPH-specific QoL were produced. After an elimination process, a 20-question scale was developed. This new scale, Short Form (SF)-36 and International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS), was then administered to 50 healthy men (control group), and 108 BPH patients who received medical or surgical treatment. Reliability assessment consisted of internal consistency evaluation by the Cronbach's alpha reliability test. In construct validity, factor analysis was performed using principal component analysis with Varimax rotation. Response to change of this new form was also evaluated. Cronbach's alpha coefficient of this scale was found to be 0.8464. Item-total correlation coefficients were between 0.3298 and 0.7886 (p < 0.0001). Factor analysis for construct validity revealed four factors. The correlation coefficients were found to be r = 0.801 (p < 0.0001) with the total IPSS, and this new QoL scale had a relatively sufficient correlation with all domains of the SF-36. Moreover, a QoL score obtained by the summation of individual grades of each item may provide valuable information just like total IPSS. The mean QoL score was 4.96 +/- A 9.58 and 20.28 +/- A 9.14 in controls and BPH patients, respectively (p < 0.0001). Moreover, QoL score significantly improved by both medical and surgical treatment. The new BPH-specific QoL was shown to be reliable and valid.