Keywords
nocturia - quality of life - assessment scale - development - reliability - validation
Introduction
Nocturia is one of the most prevalent and troublesome symptoms associated with the
lower urinary tract. It is defined as “the need to wake up to void during the sleep
hours, with each of the urinations preceded and followed by sleep.” The occurrence
of nocturia takes place through three principal pathological mechanisms as follows:
(1) night-time urine production, (2) function of bladder, and (3) sleep.[1] There is an increase in the occurrence of nocturia with age, with rates between
30 (for men age of 50–54 years) and 60% (for men age of >70 years).[2]
The impact of nocturia on the health-associated quality of life (QoL) of a person
has been recognized to be significant.[3]
[4] The association of nocturnal urination with poor quality of sleep, enhanced fatigue
in the daytime, and lesser extents of overall well-being has been established.[5]
[6] These impacts may spread moreover to partners whose sleep may be disturbed as an
outcome of living with an individual with nocturia.[7]
Nocturia is one of the common storage symptoms of lower urinary tract (men, 48.6%
and women, 54.5%).[8] It is not a standalone symptom but mostly associated with other irritative bladder
symptoms like urinary urgency (77.2%),[9] frequency, and even with urge incontinence.[10] These tend to occur together since they share many etiologies.[11] Nocturia was oftentimes considered a symptom associated with functional issues,
such as overactive bladder syndrome (OAB) or benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), with
bladder outlet obstruction, nocturnal polyuria, and global polyuria.[12]
[13] Patients with bladder outlet obstruction can have overflow incontinence which is
predominantly noted at night due to lack of cerebral inhibitory control at sleep.
When nocturnal leakage occurs, the need to change pads or clothing and bedding is
particularly troublesome and disruptive to sleep.[14] Asian and European continent studies also have shown the prevalence of nocturia
among clients with BPH were ranged from 42.8 to 85.9%.[15]
[16]
[17]
[18]
The nocturnal urine production has increased in case of nocturnal polyuria can clinically
present as increased urgency and frequency.[19] Many frail patients with significant irritable bladder symptom prefer diaper usage
at night. A study by Sells et al on partners' morbidity on BPH, one of the reason
for low QoL was urge incontinence. He associates the disruption of social life, and
the reluctance of patients with BPH and partners to go for social events or trips
was frequency, urgency, nocturia, and incontinence that cause embarrassment.[7]
Moreover, the impact of nocturia on a patient's QoL is frequently the chief determinant
for pursuing health care intervention that furthermore directs the selection of options
for treatment. Thus, the measurement of frequency of symptoms together with the assessment
of the opinion of patients with regard to their condition and related impacts is a
significant facet of nocturia's outcome measures. Consequently, there is a need for
validated instruments that investigate the impact of nocturia on its own on QoL.[20]
Accordingly, there has been considerable interest in developing QoL-related instruments
for nocturia. For example, Abraham et al[20] developed a nocturia QoL (N-QoL) questionnaire for men with nocturia. This scale
contained 13 items and was developed with inputs from male individuals from various
cultures who had nocturia. The psychometric properties of the scale were tested in
the United Kingdom in a comparable population. In a related study, McKown et al[21] assessed the linguistic validity of a harmonized translation of the N-QoL questionnaire
and found that its overall item comprehension rate was 96%. Consequently, it could
be seen that the translation of the N-QoL was equivalent, both from the linguistic
and conceptual perspectives to the original questionnaires in English (both U.K. and
U.S. styles). Moreover, patients understood the questionnaire well, in general, though
additional assessment of some items was suggested some languages. Holm-Larsen et al[22] developed and validated nocturia impact diary, an expanded version of the N-QoL
questionnaire which was designed to be used together with the 3-day voiding diary.
Another study[23] also validated the N-QoL questionnaire and highlighted its usefulness in assessing
nocturia and its effect on QoL and quality of sleep. Yamanishi et al[24] assessed the Japanese edition of the N-QoL questionnaire and found it a useful instrument
to predict nocturia in Japanese patients.
It was evident from these review that none of these instruments were developed or
assessed specifically on Indian population. Keeping these thoughts in mind that a
universal scale may not be entirely suitable for usage at a national or regional level,
the researcher perceived the need to develop a standardized nocturia-related QoL (NRQoL)
questionnaire that would be appropriate for Indian population across different domains
of life. Hence the aim of this was to develop and validate an NRQoL assessment scale
for Indian adults.
Materials and Methods
Participant and Procedures
The testing of the psychometric characteristics of the NRQoL questionnaire involved
the usage of a quantitative survey method to obtain data. Data were collected from
the departments of urology, gynecology, and endocrine of selected hospitals at Mangaluru
in Karnataka, India. The study was conducted over a period of 15 months (March 2018–July
2019). The data were collected from 420 adults with nocturia, that is, persons who
woke up twice or more every night to urinate, and 206 controls. The age of the participants
was between 35 and 65 years.
Instrument Development
The NRQoL questionnaire was developed over multiple stages.
Stage I: Development of Initial Pools of Items
In the first stage of instrument development, a pool of items was generated from various
sources such as review of literature, expert opinion, existing QoL assessment scales,
and interviews with individuals having nocturia. During this stage, according to the
content areas specified in the test blueprint, a total of 62 items were formulated.
Subsequently, irrelevant items were eliminated and a total of 42 items were included
in the pool.
Stage II: Face Validity of the Initial Item Pool
Face validity “involves an overall look of an instrument regarding its appropriateness
to measure a particular attribute or phenomenon.”[25] During the second stage of instrument development, the objectives were to evaluate
the intelligibility of the phrasing of the items present in the item pool and to create
new items to add to the pool. The researcher informally interviewed few patients for
understanding ability and complexity in the items to give appropriate response. Some
of the questions that not well understood by the participants were reframed.
Stage III: Content Validity and Reliability
Content validity of the instrument was performed through the services of a panel of
experts and a group of individuals. The experts were requested to judge how well the
measuring instrument met the standards.
The 42 items in the initial pool were formulated in a structured questionnaire format.
The questionnaire was submitted to 16 experts in urology, gynecology, medicine and
nursing fields, and medical professional. The rating of the experts was analyzed for
individual items. Concurrence was found to range from 75 to 100% for relevance and
79 to 100% for clarity. The experts suggested that 12 questions can be reframed and
that 6 questions could be eliminated as they were irrelevant. The final questionnaire
was administered to 30 adults with nocturia to assess the feasibility and applicability
of the items.
The reliability of the questionnaire was checked utilizing Cronbach's α.[26] The results of the test showed that the 36 items had a high reliability of 0.954,
that is, they could be classed as acceptable for use in the study.[27] Further, Pearson's correlation test was performed for the 36 questionnaire items.
The purpose of this test is to determine the extent to which the items in the scale
are linearly related to each other.[25] The value for all the items was >0.5. Therefore, all the items could be retained.
All 36 items retained for factorial validation after the opinion of the experts and
concurrence of the individuals. Likert's 5-point scale ranging not at all (0), a little
(1), somewhat (2), quite a bit (3), and very much(4). The higher the score, the higher
the agreement with the statement, and vice versa.
Stage IV: Construct Validity
Construct validity pertains to assess the construct regarding QoL of clients with
nocturia. The data were collected from 420 adults aged 35 to 65 years with voiding
over two times and 206 (controls) adults aged 35 to 65 years who voided only once
a night from two tertiary hospitals in Mangaluru, Karnataka, India. A total of 1,265
adult participants were screened initially by the investigator to identify the presence
of nocturia. All the patients attending the department of Urology, Gynecology, Medicine,
and Endocrine (till the calculated sample size 420 adult clients) were selected. The
sample size was calculated for the group I (nocturia ≥2 voids) based on the prevalence
(47%) and the attrition rate was considered as 10%. However, the prevalence of 16%
was considered for the group II (controls) with one episode of nocturia. The sample
size estimation was done by using the formula:
Z α 2 × (p) × (1 − p)
e
2
The study sample size consisted of 420 adults (group I) and 206 adults (group II).
Both groups were recruited using purposive sampling. To measure this construct validity
in this study, it has been assessed through exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and
Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA). EFA is utilized to expose complex patterns in
the data and to evaluate predictions. The CFA was utilized to find validity of each
item in the domains and as of whole the validity of all the domains to measure nocturia
related QoL among adults. EFA and CFA were performed separately for both case and
control datasets.
Convergent and Discriminant Validity
Determination of the discriminant validity, that is, the capability to distinguish
between known groups, was performed through the utilization of average variance extracted
(AVE) analysis to contrast the scores of persons experiencing different number of
episodes of nocturia every night on average. It is assumed by discriminant validity
that “items should correlate higher among them than they correlate with other items
from other constructs that are theoretically supposed not to correlate.”[28] AVE was also utilized to assess the convergent validity of the scale.
The AVE analysis requires the testing of the square root of the AVE value which belongs
to every latent construct to determine if this is greater than any correlation between
any latent construct pairs. AVE evaluates the construct's explained variance.[28]
Results
Participant Characteristics
The data were collected from 420 adults with nocturia and 206 controls from two tertiary
hospitals in Mangaluru, Karnataka, India. The participants were informed about the
purpose of the collection of data and informed consent was received from them prior
to proceeding with study.
Reduction of Items: Exploratory Factor Analysis
Prior to performing the EFA, the Kaiser–Meyer–Olkin (KMO) measure of sampling adequacy
and the Bartlett test of sphericity were performed using AMOS software. The outcome
of the KMO test was 0.952 which confirmed that the sample was of adequate size to
perform the factor analysis of the scale. Further, the Bartlett test revealed a significant
Chi-square value of 9053.207 (p = 0.000), denoting that the correlations among the variables were sufficient.
In the outcomes of the EFA, factors with eigen values >1 and factor loadings of ≥0.5
were regarded as acceptable. Consequently, items such as Q19, Q20, Q21, Q22, Q26,
Q27, and Q33 could be removed from the scale as their factors' loadings were <0.5.
The final scale contained six domains as follows: (1) functional (eight items), (2)
sleep (six items), (3) emotional (four items), (4) physical (three items), (5) social
and family (five items), (6) and spiritual (three items). Furthermore, reliability
was tested again using Cronbach's α for these identified domains with 29 items and
the reliability of each construct was found to be sufficient. The outcomes of the
EFA are provided in [Table 1].
Table 1
Factors of NRQoL–EFA
Old question number
|
New item number
|
Statements
|
Factor loading
|
% of variance
|
Cronbach's α
|
Domain name
|
Reliability of the modified domain Cronbach's α
|
Q1
|
FUN-Q1
|
I am unable to fulfil my task
|
0.689
|
12.69
|
0.890
|
Functional
|
0.890
|
Q2
|
FUN-Q2
|
I feel exhausted on the next day
|
0.686
|
Q3
|
FUN-Q3
|
I have unpleasant feeling to carry out task
|
0.674
|
Q4
|
FUN-Q4
|
I have difficulty to do household tasks
|
0.655
|
Q5
|
FUN-Q5
|
I have lack of concentration at workplace
|
0.640
|
Q6
|
FUN-Q6
|
I have to take nap during the day
|
0.549
|
Q7
|
FUN-Q7
|
I have lack of energy
|
0.531
|
Q8
|
FUN-Q8
|
I am preoccupied with night urination
|
0.505
|
Q9
|
SLE-Q9
|
I am dissatisfied with initiating sleep
|
0.802
|
12.36
|
0.903
|
Sleep
|
0.907
|
Q10
|
SLE-Q10
|
I am dissatisfied with feeling of rested after sleep
|
0.758
|
Q11
|
SLE-Q11
|
I am dissatisfied with returning to sleep after awakening at night
|
0.752
|
Q12
|
SLE-Q12
|
I am dissatisfied with feeling fresh felt after sleep
|
0.744
|
Q13
|
SLE-Q13
|
I am dissatisfied with depth of sleep
|
0.739
|
Q14
|
SLE-Q14
|
I am dissatisfied with duration of sleep
|
0.603
|
Q15
|
EMO-Q15
|
I am worried about stinking
|
0.741
|
10.18
|
0.826
|
Emotional
|
0.826
|
Q16
|
EMO-Q16
|
Disturbed due to often change of undergarments/pampers for leaking of urine
|
0.706
|
Q17
|
EMO-Q17
|
I restrict myself drinking fluids purposefully
|
0.556
|
Q18
|
EMO-Q18
|
I am anxious and depressed
|
0.534
|
Q19
|
Deleted
|
I have dissatisfaction with my sex life
|
0.489
|
Q20
|
Deleted
|
I feel I am financially burden to my family
|
0.462
|
Q21
|
Deleted
|
I am worried about need for taking further treatment
|
0.456
|
Q22
|
Deleted
|
I have difficulty to accept my illness
|
0.431
|
Q23
|
PHY-Q19
|
I have difficulty to lift the object
|
0.806
|
10.03
|
0.875
|
Physical
|
0.878
|
Q24
|
PHY-Q20
|
I have difficulty to walk
|
0.804
|
Q25
|
PHY-Q21
|
I have difficulty to climb more than 10 stairs
|
0.760
|
Q26
|
Deleted
|
I had fall
|
0.485
|
Q27
|
Deleted
|
Overall physical health is limited
|
0.449
|
Q28
|
SOFA-Q22
|
I am uncomfortable to travel in long distance
|
0.634
|
8.74
|
0.801
|
Social and family
|
0.706
|
Q29
|
SOFA-Q23
|
I am having difficulty with my family relationships
|
0.576
|
Q30
|
SOFA-Q24
|
I am hesitant to stay in relatives house due to night urination
|
0.562
|
Q31
|
SOFA-Q25
|
I am feeling of disturbing others at home due to night urination
|
0.530
|
Q32
|
SOFA-Q26
|
I am embarrassed to attend social gathering at night due to unintentional passage
of urine
|
0.512
|
Q33
|
Deleted
|
I am worried about the prognosis of disease
|
0.427
|
Q34
|
SPI-Q27
|
I cannot concentrate in prayers
|
0.800
|
8.22
|
0.841
|
Spiritual
|
0.841
|
Q35
|
SPI Q28
|
I am unable to visit church/temple/mosque
|
0.782
|
Q36
|
SPI Q29
|
I am unable to participate in my spiritual activities
|
0.720
|
Abbreviations: EFA, exploratory factor analysis; NRQoL, nocturia-related quality of
life. Abbreviations: EMO, Emotional; FUN, Functional; PHY, Physical; SLE, Sleep; SOFA,
Social and Family; SPI, Spiritual.
Following the EFA, CFA was performed to identify the dimensions and factor loading
to check whether all items are loading sufficiently by the construct. The result obtained
showed that each construct loaded sufficiently. The model fit indices of the scales
for QoL as obtained in CFA were the Chi-Square Mean/Degree of Freedom (CMIN/DF) of
2.494, being <5 suggests that the model is a good fit. The Goodness of Fit Index (GRI)
(0.8587), Adjusted Goodness of Fit Index (AGFI) (0.8301), and Comparative Fit Index
(CFI) (0.9207) were close to 0.9 or >0.09, again suggesting that the model is a good
fit ([Fig. 1]).
Fig. 1 The dimensions and factor loading of the construct. Abbreviations: EMO, Emotional;
FUN, Functional; PHY, Physical; SLE, Sleep; SOFA, Social and Family; SPI, Spiritual.
Construct Validity
The modified scale was utilized with controls with nocturia once at night. The mean
value of controls was found to be lower than the cases and the p-value showed a highly significant difference. Therefore, it can be inferred that
the construct is well explained by the scale, and its construct validity is good ([Table 2]).
Table 2
Construct validity for the scale
Group
|
n
|
Minimum
|
Maximum
|
Mean
|
Standard deviation
|
t-Value
|
p-Value
|
|
1. Cases
|
420
|
20
|
116
|
72.98
|
20.728
|
32.444
|
.000
|
HS
|
2. Controls
|
206
|
0
|
75
|
20.76
|
14.560
|
Abbreviation: HS, highly significant.
Convergent and Discriminant Validity
For each construct, the AVE values must be contrasted with the squared correlation
coefficients of the other constructs. For the NRQoL scale, the AVE was found to exceed
the minimum value of 0.5[29] for all the subconstructs of the scale ([Table 3]). Thus, the scale demonstrated acceptable convergent validity. Moreover, the AVE
scores were greater than the squared correlations between all domain pairs. Hence,
the scale was seen to demonstrate acceptable discriminant validity as well.
Table 3
Discriminant validity (average variance extracted analysis)
Domain
|
Physical
|
Functional
|
Financial
|
Emotional
|
Spiritual
|
Sleep
|
Social and Family
|
Physical
|
0.604
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Functional
|
0.229
|
0.716
|
|
|
|
|
|
Financial
|
0.200
|
0.307
|
0.953
|
|
|
|
|
Emotional
|
0.233
|
0.209
|
0.148
|
0.614
|
|
|
|
Spiritual
|
0.222
|
0.200
|
0.252
|
0.229
|
0.786
|
|
|
Sleep
|
0.112
|
0.222
|
0.205
|
0.137
|
0.162
|
0.568
|
|
Social and family
|
0.264
|
0.265
|
0.040
|
0.527
|
0.099
|
0.091
|
0.719
|
Receiver Operating Characteristic Analysis
The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was performed to indicate
the benefit of using QoL scores ([Table 4]). The total QoL score is in the range of 0 to 116, with a higher score indicating
poorer QoL. The cut-off score for QoL is 35 where <35 indicates a good QoL, 35 to
62 indicates moderate QoL, 63 to 89 indicates poor QoL, and 90 to 116 indicates very
poor QoL ([Table 5]). The area under the curve (AUC) for the QoL score was 0.979 (95% confidence interval
[CI]: 0.968–0.990; p < 0.01). It can be inferred that in 97.9% of cases, at the best cut-off QoL score,
the sensitivity and specificity were 97.9 and 86.4% in discriminating cases with NRQoL.
Table 4
Test result variable(s): quality of life
Area under the curve and 95% confidence interval
|
Standard error
|
Sensitivity
|
Specificity
|
Best cut-off value
|
Significance
|
0.979 (0.968–0.990)
|
0.006
|
97.9%
|
86.4%
|
35
|
0.000
|
Table 5
Grading of nocturia-related quality of life (NRQoL) assessment scale among adults
QoL grade
|
Scores
|
Good QoL
|
<35
|
Moderate QoL
|
35–62
|
Poor QoL
|
63–89
|
Very poor QoL
|
90–116
|
Discussion
The NRQoL scale is, to the researchers' best knowledge, the first questionnaire to
evaluate the effect of nocturia on the QoL of Indian adults. The scale was constructed
in response to a perceived need for a standardized NRQoL questionnaire that would
be appropriate for the Indian population, as it was believed that a general scale
may not be entirely appropriate for usage with such a population. The scale is simple
and can be self-administered taking <10 minutes to complete. Moreover, it can be utilized
in the clinical environment as was demonstrated by the present study when the data
were collected in the hospitals in Mangaluru. The questionnaire was developed using
inputs from literature, experts, and scales already existing for assessment of QoL,
and interviews with persons having nocturia. The scale's psychometric properties were
assessed in a population of patients with nocturia in Mangaluru, India.
The validity of the instrument was ascertained by face, content, and constructs validity.
Moreover, the internal consistency and reliability of the instrument were found to
be good. The resulting instrument is a self-administered questionnaire with multidimensional
aspects of QoL for both men and women. The QoL assessment of adults with nocturia
has various dimensions, namely, functional, sleep, emotional, physical, social and
family, and spiritual.
Subsequently, the original questionnaire was reduced from 42 to 36 items through content
validity and from 36 to 29 items using EFA for item reduction. The scale and its subconstructs
were found to have good internal consistency. Moreover, it demonstrated good convergent
and discriminant validity.
Limitation of the Study
The overall score on the scale and the subscales could not be utilized to differentiate
between the cases and controls since no intervention was performed. Moreover, the
questionnaire was developed and tested using participants from only one city in India
(i.e., Mangaluru).
Conclusion
This paper has described the development of an assessment scale for NRQoL for adults
(Appendix A). The psychometric evaluation of the scale revealed that it is a valid and reliable
evaluation of nocturia's effect on the QoL of Indian patients. It therefore aids in
generating awareness of the effect of nocturia on the QoL of persons and can thus
serve to supplement clinical methods, facilitate decisions related to treatment, and,
probably, assess novel treatments for this complaint.
Appendix A
Nocturia-related quality of life (NRQoL) assessment scale among adults
The following statements are about impact of night urination on QoL. Kindly read the
questions clearly and you are requested place tick mark (
) in the box next to the response that best describes how you have felt. Please mark
only one box for each statement. (Scores: not at all, 0; a little, 1; somewhat, 2;
quite a bit, 3; and very much, 4)
Over the past 1 month, due to night urination——-
Functional domain
|
Not at all
|
A little
|
Somewhat
|
Quite a bit
|
Very much
|
1
|
I am unable to fulfil my task
|
|
|
|
|
|
2
|
I feel exhausted on the next day
|
|
|
|
|
|
3
|
I have unpleasant feeling to carry out task
|
|
|
|
|
|
4
|
I have difficulty to do household tasks
|
|
|
|
|
|
5
|
I have lack of concentration at workplace
|
|
|
|
|
|
6
|
I have to take nap during the day
|
|
|
|
|
|
7
|
I have lack of energy
|
|
|
|
|
|
8
|
I am preoccupied with night urination
|
|
|
|
|
|
Sleep domain
|
|
|
|
|
|
9
|
I am dissatisfied with initiating sleep
|
|
|
|
|
|
10
|
I am dissatisfied with feeling of rested after sleep
|
|
|
|
|
|
11
|
I am dissatisfied with returning to sleep after awakening at night
|
|
|
|
|
|
12
|
I am dissatisfied with feeling fresh felt after sleep
|
|
|
|
|
|
13
|
I am dissatisfied with depth of sleep
|
|
|
|
|
|
14
|
I am dissatisfied with duration of sleep
|
|
|
|
|
|
Emotional domain
|
|
|
|
|
|
15
|
I am worried about stinking
|
|
|
|
|
|
16
|
Disturbed due to often change of undergarments/pampers for leaking of urine
|
|
|
|
|
|
17
|
I restrict myself drinking fluids purposefully
|
|
|
|
|
|
18
|
I am anxious/depressed
|
|
|
|
|
|
Physical domain
|
|
|
|
|
|
19
|
I have difficulty to lift the objects
|
|
|
|
|
|
20
|
I have difficulty to walk
|
|
|
|
|
|
21
|
I have difficulty to climb more than 10 steps
|
|
|
|
|
|
Social and family domain
|
|
|
|
|
|
22
|
I am uncomfortable to travel long distance
|
|
|
|
|
|
23
|
I am having difficulty with my family relationships
|
|
|
|
|
|
24
|
I am hesitant to stay in relatives house due to night urination
|
|
|
|
|
|
25
|
I am disturbing others at home due to night urination
|
|
|
|
|
|
26
|
I am embarrassed to attend social gathering at night due to unintentional passage
of urine
|
|
|
|
|
|
Spiritual domain
|
|
|
|
|
|
27
|
I cannot concentrate during prayers
|
|
|
|
|
|
28
|
I am unable to visit church/temple/mosque
|
|
|
|
|
|
29
|
I am unable to participate in my spiritual activities
|
|
|
|
|
|
Note: QoL grades: good QoL (<35), moderate QoL (35–62), poor QoL (63–89), very poor
QoL (90–116).