The sexual function and influence of urinary incontinence questionnaire (SF-IUIQ) - assessing sexual function of urinary incontinent women in south Africa

Objective. To develop and psychometrically validate a questionnaire that assesses sexual function of urinary incontinent women in South Africa and the influence of incontinence on their sexual function. Design. A prospective descriptive study. Setting. Urogynaecology and gynaecology outpatient clinics at Tygerberg Hospital, Stellenbosch University, South Africa. Subjects. All patients attending the urogynaecology or gynaecology outpatient clinic at Tygerberg Hospital, who were older than 18 years, not pregnant and could communicate in either Afrikaans or English. Outcome measures. The content validity, reliability (internal consistency) and construct validity (convergent and discriminant validity) of the Sexual Function and Influence of Urinary Incontinence Questionnaire (SF-IUIQ). Results. Of the subjects 33% were not sexually active. Sexual quality of life was significantly influenced by urinary incontinence in 37.7% of individuals. Leakage during sexual activity occurred in 32%. Conclusions. The SF-IUIQ is a reliable and valid measure of sexual function in urinary incontinent women, and of the influence of urinary incontinence on sexual function

Asymptomatic bronchial hyperresponsiveness to exercise in childhood and the development of asthma related symptoms in young adulthood: the Odense Schoolchild Study

BACKGROUND—Exercise testing may be of value in identifying a group of children at high risk of subsequently developing respiratory symptoms. As few longitudinal studies have investigated this issue, the bronchial hyperresponsiveness to exercise in asymptomatic children was evaluated as a risk factor for developing asthma related symptoms in young adulthood.
METHODS—A community based sample of 1369 schoolchildren, first investigated in 1985 at a mean age of 9.7 years, was followed up after a mean of 10.5 years. Nine hundred and twenty children (67%) were asymptomatic in childhood and 777 (84.9%) of these were re-investigated at follow up. At the first examination a maximum progressive exercise test on a bicycle ergometer was used to induce airway narrowing. The forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV(1)) after exercise was considered abnormal if the percentage fall in FEV(1) was more than 5% of the highest fall in the reference subjects characterised by having no previous history of asthma or asthma related symptoms. The threshold for a positive test was 8.6% of pre-exercise FEV(1).
RESULTS—One hundred and three subjects (13%) had wheeze within the last year at follow up and, of these, nine (9%) had been hyperresponsive to exercise in 1985. One hundred and seventy subjects (22%) had non-infectious cough within the previous year, 11 of whom (6%) had been hyperresponsive to exercise in 1985. Multiple regression analysis showed that subjects with hyperresponsiveness to exercise had an increased risk of developing wheeze compared with subjects with a normal response to exercise when the fall in FEV(1) after exercise was included as a variable (threshold odds ratio (OR) 2.3 (95% CI 1.1 to 5.5)). The trend was not significant when exercise induced bronchospasm was included as a continuous variable (OR 1.02 (95% CI 0.97 to 1.06)).
CONCLUSIONS—Asymptomatic children who are hyperresponsive to exercise are at increased risk of developing new symptoms related to wheezing but the predictive value of exercise testing for individuals is low.