Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2022 Mar;14(2):92-101.
doi: 10.1111/luts.12415. Epub 2021 Nov 3.

How international is the International Prostate Symptom Score? A literature review of validated translations of the IPSS, the most widely used self-administered patient questionnaire for male lower urinary tract symptoms

Mark W Yao  1 , James S A Green  2
Affiliations
Review

How international is the International Prostate Symptom Score? A literature review of validated translations of the IPSS, the most widely used self-administered patient questionnaire for male lower urinary tract symptoms

Mark W Yao et al. Low Urin Tract Symptoms. 2022 Mar.

Abstract

Objectives: The International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS) approaches its 30th anniversary. This ubiquitous clinical assessment tool is a standard in the assessment and research of lower urinary tract symptoms in men. The authors explore its history, development, and subsequent dissemination through validated translations across the world. An estimated global coverage is calculated and mapped according to language population.

Methods: Embase and Medline literature searches were performed, with further hand searches of grey literature and online resources. Twenty-two abstracts and journal articles validating language translations of the IPSS were reviewed in full and tabulated. Language population data were gathered from an official database and mapped.

Results: The IPSS is available in 53 languages. Twenty-seven languages have statistically or clinically validated translations for use in male patients. This corresponds to a conservative estimate of global population coverage of approximately 2.3 billion men, or 60% of the worldwide male population. Translation methodology involves forward and back translation. Statistical validation is performed with control patients. Cronbach's alpha is used for internal consistency, and Spearman's coefficient (p) or Pearson's coefficient (r) for test-retest reliability. Issues such as the emergence of altered versions deviating from original validated translations and translation difficulties due to cultural differences are observed. Further translational work is needed to validate versions of the IPSS in languages of the developing world.

Conclusions: The IPSS is the most prevalent patient-administered questionnaire used in urology across the world. There is no other clinical tool seen to have similar coverage. This paper aims to provide a roadmap for future clinical tools to acquire a similar level of translation and dissemination.

Keywords: lower urinary tract symptom; prostatic hyperplasia; surveys and questionnaires; translations; validation studies.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

REFERENCES

    1. Abrams P. New words for old: lower urinary tract symptoms for ‘prostatism’. BMJ. 1994;308(6934):929-930.
    1. Abrams P. LUTS, BPH, BPE, BPO: a plea for the logical use of correct terms. Rev Urol. 1999;1(2):65.
    1. Gratzke C, Bachmann A, Descazeaud A, et al. EAU guidelines on the assessment of non-neurogenic male lower urinary tract symptoms including benign prostatic obstruction. Eur Urol. 2015;67(6):1099-1109.
    1. Barry MJ, Fowler FJ, O'Leary MP, et al. The American Urological Association symptom index for benign prostatic hyperplasia. The Measurement Committee of the American Urological Association. J Urol. 1992;148(5):1549-1557.
    1. Grant J, Cottrell R, Fawcett G, Cluzeau F. Evaluating ‘payback’ on biomedical research from papers cited in clinical guidelines: applied bibliometric study. BMJ. 2000;320(7242):1107-1111.

LinkOut - more resources