Urogenital Distress Inventory Short Form (UDI-6) Calculator

How does this urogenital distress inventory short form (UDI-6) calculator work?

This health tool focuses on the life impact of urogenital symptoms triggered by urinary incontinence in women.

The questionnaire, widely used as quality of life measure, can be self-administered and should not take longer than 5 minutes. UDI-6 is included in the Pelvic Floor Impact Questionnaire (PFIQ).

There are six questions in UDI-6, referring to different urogenital distress symptoms:

■ Do you usually experience frequent urination?

■ Do you usually experience urine leakage associated with a feeling of urgency; that is, a strong sensation of needing to go to the bathroom?

■ Do you usually experience urine leakage related to coughing, sneezing, or laughing?

■ Do you experience small amounts of urine leakage (that is, drops)?

■ Do you experience difficulty emptying your bladder?

■ Do you usually experience pain or discomfort in the lower abdomen or genital region?

In the first instance, the user is prompted to select whether the answer to the above questions is yes or no. Answers with no are awarded 0 points in the final score.

In case the answer to any of the first 5 questions is yes, the following question appears:

“If yes, how much does this bother you?”

When the 6th question is answered with yes, the follow up question is: “If yes, then is your pain relieved after emptying your bladder?”

The answer choices for the follow up questions are:

■ Not at all (1 point);

■ Somewhat (2 points);

■ Moderately (3 points);

■ Quite a bit (4 points).

The final UDI-6 score is calculated by adding all scores as explained in the above, and dividing the result to 6 to obtain a mean value which is in turn multiplied by 25 to obtain the scale score.

In the situation that items are left unanswered to, the mean is calculated only for answered questions.

Score interpretation

The score varies from 0 to 100. The basic interpretation of the score, as intended by the original study cited below, is that the higher the score, the higher the disability.

Other examples of female sexual functioning evaluation tools include the Urinary incontinence sexual questionnaire PISQ-12 which addresses pelvic organ prolapse and the more general, dysfunction focused Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI).

Urinary incontinence

UI is defined as the involuntary passing of urine and can be classified according to its mechanism in 4 types: stress (due to pressure during laughter or cough), overflow (due to chronic urinary retention), urge and total.

UI is twice as common in women as in men because of pregnancy and menopause.

The most common cause is the weakening or damage to muscles in the pelvic region or to the urethral sphincter.

Other causes include obstructions or blockages in the bladder, spinal injury, post-pregnancy status or age.

Diagnosis aims to distinguish the cause of incontinence and is performed via stress testing, urinalysis (dipstick test), ultrasound, blood tests (for example in suspected bladder infection) or even cystoscopy (suspected bladder damage).

Incontinence does not have to be unavoidable and there are some measures that can be taken to improve or relieve symptoms entirely, depending on UI severity.

Pelvic floor exercises, bladder training, electrical stimulation or lifestyle changes can help.

References

1. Uebersax JS,WymanJF, Shumaker SA, et al. Short forms to assess life quality and symptom distress for urinary incontinence in women: the Incontinence Impact Questionnaire and the Urogenital Distress Inventory. Continence Program for Women Research Group. Neurourol Urodyn. 1995;14:131–9.

2. Shumaker SA, Wyman JF, Uebersax JS, McClish D, Fantl JA. Health-related quality of life measures for women with urinary incontinence: the Incontinence Impact Questionnaire and the Urogenital Distress Inventory. Continence Program in Women (CPW) Research Group. Qual Life Res. 1994 Oct;3(5):291-306.