Validation of a patient-administered questionnaire to measure the activity impairment experienced by women with uncomplicated urinary tract infection: the Activity Impairment Assessment (AIA)

BACKGROUND To validate a questionnaire to assess the activity impairment associated with uncomplicated urinary tract infection (uUTI). METHODS The Activity Impairment Assessment (AIA) assesses the amount of time an individual's work or regular activities have been impaired as a result of their UTI. The measure was completed by 276 women with uUTI who had participated in a prospective, open-label, non-comparative multi-centre clinical trial of CIPRO XR (extended-release ciprofloxacin). Baseline scores on the King's Health Questionnaire (KHQ) and clinical symptom evaluations were collected for validation purposes. RESULTS An exploratory factor analysis showed that all items loaded > 0.84 on a single component. This uni-dimensional structure was supported by Rasch analysis. The AIA was found to have excellent levels of internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha = 0.93), convergent validity (all rs > .70) and divergent validity (rs = .078). The AIA displayed excellent discriminant validity in relation to clinical evaluations, and was found to be responsive to change across all clinical evaluations. CONCLUSION The unidimensional AIA shows high levels of internal reliability, convergent and divergent validity, discriminant validity and responsiveness. It is an excellent tool for measuring activity impairment in UTI.