Pelvic Floor Impact Questionnaire (PFIQ - 7)

Objective[edit | edit source]

Pelvic floor.jpg

The Pelvic Floor Impact Questionnaire-7 (PFIQ-7) is a shortened, less comprehensive version of the Pelvic Floor Impact Questionnaire (PFIQ).[1] It was created by Barber and colleagues (2004)[1] to save time, yet remain effective, in clinical and research encounters. It is a health-related quality of life questionnaire for women with pelvic floor conditions to fill out.[1] It includes scales from the Urinary Impact Questionnaire (UIQ-7), Pelvic Organ Prolapse Impact Questionnaire (POPIQ-7), and the Colorectal-Anal Impact Questionnaire-7 (CRAIQ-7),[1] which are short-forms of their the longer versions. It is useful to determine changes in symptom-severity over time and before and after treatments.[1]

Intended Population[edit | edit source]

Women over the age of 18 with pelvic floor conditions including urinary incontinence, pelvic organ prolapse, and fecal incontinence.[1]

Method of Use[edit | edit source]

The PFIQ-7 consists of 7 questions that need to be answered 3 times each (corresponds to the scales previously mentioned) considering symptoms related to the bladder or urine, vagina or pelvis, and bowel or rectum and their effect on function, social health, and mental health in the past 3 months.[1] The responses for each question range from "not at all" (0) to "quite a bit" (3).[1] To get scale scores, the mean of each of the 3 scales is individually calculated, which ranges from 0-3, this number is then multiplied by 100 and then divided by 3.[1] The scale scores are then added together to get the total PFIQ-7 score, which ranges from 0-300. A lower score means there is a lesser effect on quality of life.[1]

Evidence[edit | edit source]

Correlation[edit | edit source]

Correlation, represented by r, ranges from -1.0 to +1.0. If the r value is 0 that means there is no correlation. If the r value is close to -1.0 that means that both values will decrease linearly. If the r value is close to +1.0 that means that both values will increase linearly.

Correlation of the short-form versions with the long-form versions:[1]

  • UIQ-7 r=0.96[1]
  • POPIQ-7 r=0.94[1]
  • CRAIQ-7 r=0.96[1]

Reliability[edit | edit source]

The test-retest reliability, represented by intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC):[1]

  • PFIQ-7 ICC=0.77[1]
  • UIQ-7 ICC=0.81[1]
  • POPIQ-7 ICC=0.70[1]
  • CRAIQ-7 ICC=0.81[1]

Validity[edit | edit source]

The PFIQ-7 demonstrates construct validity as it demonstrates a significant association with appropriate measures of symptom severity and pelvic floor diagnoses.[1]

Responsiveness[edit | edit source]

The PFIQ-7 has shown moderate responsiveness between the pre- and post-operative periods for pelvic and continence surgeries.[1] The standardized response mean (SRM) for all the sub scales fell within the range of 0.5 to 0.7.[1] It showed an effect size of 0.67 and a SRM of 0.63.[1] However, the responsiveness has been shown to be vary amongst different patients.[2] The highest SRMs have been found in the UIQ-7 and the CRAIQ-7 and the lowest SRMs have been found in the POPIQ-7.[2] However, the SRM for the POPIQ-7 increased at 3 and 12 months in patients who underwent surgery for pelvic organ prolapse.[2]

Clinically Meaningful Change[edit | edit source]

At the time of creation, the clinically meaningful change in quality of life (MCID)[3] needed to be studied in larger populations.[1] However, in their small sample size, Barber and colleagues (2004)[1] found a change in the summary score of 36 points (12%) or more to be meaningful after surgery.

Miscellaneous[edit | edit source]

The PFIQ-7 demonstrated a statistically significant improvement at 3 to 6 months after surgery, but the responsiveness was somewhat less than the PFDI-20.[1]

Links[edit | edit source]

Pelvic Floor Impact Questionnaire (PFIQ-7) on the Rehabilitation Measures Database

Paper by Barber et al 2005 describing the development of the PFIQ-7

References[edit | edit source]

  1. 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 1.18 1.19 1.20 1.21 1.22 1.23 1.24 1.25 Barber MD, Walters MD, Bump RC. Short forms of two condition-specific quality-of-life questionnaires for women with pelvic floor disorders (PFDI-20 and PFIQ-7). American journal of obstetrics and gynecology. 2005 Jul 1;193(1):103-13.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 Barber MD, Chen Z, Lukacz E, Markland A, Wai C, Brubaker L, Nygaard I, Weidner A, Janz NK, Spino C. Further validation of the short form versions of the Pelvic Floor Distress Inventory (PFDI) and Pelvic Floor Impact Questionnaire (PFIQ). Neurourology and urodynamics. 2011 Apr;30(4):541-6.
  3. Crosby RD, Kolotkin RL, Williams GR. Defining clinically meaningful change in health-related quality of life. Journal of clinical epidemiology. 2003 May 1;56(5):395-407.