Prulifloxacin vs Phosphomycin: Prophylaxis in patients with recurrent UTI. Preliminary results of a randomized multi-centre study

Introduction & Objectives To compare the efficacy of Prulifloxacin vs. Phosphomycin in reducing the number of urinary tract infection (UTI) episodes during and after prophylaxis. Material & Methods From January 2009 to July 2010, 115 consecutive patients were enrolled in this randomized multi-centre trial. Inclusion criteria were female gender, age over 18 years, no allergies or counter-indications to the drugs to be prescribed, urine culture responsiveness to drugs at patient recruitment, history of UTI with at least three episodes in the previous year or two in the past six months. Exclusion criteria were pregnancy and lack of tolerability of prescribed drugs. Patients with recurrent UTI who were referred to our outpatient clinics, were prospectively randomised by a computer generated sequence to Prulifloxacin (1 tablet/week for 12 weeks – group A) and Phosphomycin (1 cachet/week for 12 weeks – group B). Follow-up: Check-ups were scheduled at the following time-points: 2 weeks, 1 and 3 months from the beginning of the study and 3, 6, and 12 months after suspension of therapy. Primary outcome was negative urine culture. X2 , Friedman and Mann-Whitney tests were applied for data analysis. Results 86/115 (74.78%) patients with a minimum follow-up of 12 months were included in this analysis: 41 patients in group A and 45 in group B. During follow-up 7/41 patients (group A) and 4/45 (group B) were lost. Table 1 summarizes the study results. The frequency of UTIs was reduced significantly (p<0.0001) in patients who received 3-months antibiotic prophylaxis. When the Prulifloxacin and Phosphomycin prophylactic schedules were compared no significant differences were found in efficacy i.e. reduction of the number of urinary tract infection episodes during and after prophylaxis, in adverse effects or in specific drug resistance after therapy. Conclusions We found that both drugs provided an adequate prophylactic regimen in patients with recurrent UTI. The patient satisfaction with both of them was very high, but no difference in efficacy was recorded between them

The Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI): linguistic validation of the Italian version

Introduction: Although several new measurements for female sexual dysfunction (FSD) have recently been developed, the Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI) remains the gold standard for screening and one of the most widely used questionnaires. The Italian translation of the FSFI has been used in several studies conducted in Italy, but a linguistic validation of the Italian version does not exist. Aim: The aim of this study was to perform a linguistic validation of the Italian version of the FSFI. Methods: A multicenter cross-sectional study conducted in 14 urological and gynecological clinics, uniformly distributed over Italian territory. We performed all steps necessary to determine the reliability and the test-retest reliability of the Italian version of the FSFI. The study population was a convenience sample of 409 Italian women. Main Outcome Measures: The reliability of the questionnaire was calculated using Cronbach's alpha, which was considered weak, moderate, or high if its value was found less than 0.6, between 0.6 and 0.8, or equal to or greater than 0.8, respectively. The test-retest reliability was assessed for all women in the sample by calculating Pearson's concordance correlation coefficient for each domain and for the total score, both at baseline and after 15 days (r range between -1.00 to +1.00, where +1.00 indicates the strongest positive association). Results: Cronbach's alpha coefficents for total and domain score were sufficiently high, ranging from 0.92 to 0.97 for the total sample. The test-retest procedure revealed that the concordance correlation coefficient was very high both for FSFI-I total score (Pearson's P=0.93) and for each domain (Pearson's P always >0.92). Conclusion: For the first time in the literature, our study has produced a validated and reliable Italian version of the FSFI questionnaire. Consequently, the Italian FSFI can be used as a reliable tool for preliminary screening for female sexual dysfunction for Italian women. Filocamo MT, Serati M, Li Marzi V, Costantini E, Milanesi M, Pietropaolo A, Polledro P, Gentile B, Maruccia S, Fornia S, Lauri I, Alei R, Arcangeli P, Sighinolfi MC, Manassero F, Andretta E, Palazzetti A, Bertelli E, Del Popolo G, and Villari D. The Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI): Linguistic validation of the Italian version