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A review of patient-reported outcome measures to assess female infertility-related quality of life

Overview of attention for article published in Health and Quality of Life Outcomes, April 2017
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Title
A review of patient-reported outcome measures to assess female infertility-related quality of life
Published in
Health and Quality of Life Outcomes, April 2017
DOI 10.1186/s12955-017-0666-0
Pubmed ID
Authors

Helen Kitchen, Natalie Aldhouse, Andrew Trigg, Roberto Palencia, Stephen Mitchell

Abstract

Infertility has a negative impact on quality of life (QoL) and well-being of affected individuals and couples. A variety of patient-reported outcome (PRO) measures to assess infertility-related QoL are available; however, there is a concern regarding potential issues with their development methodology, validation and use. This review aimed to i) identify PRO measures used in infertility interventional studies ii) assess validation evidence to identify a reliable, valid PRO measure to assess changes in QoL or treatment satisfaction in clinical studies with female patients following treatment with novel therapies iii) identify potential gaps in evidence for validity. A structured literature search of Medline, Embase, and the Cochrane Library (accessed in September 2015) was conducted using pre-defined search terms. The identified publications were reviewed applying eligibility criteria to select interventional female infertility studies using PROs. Infertility-specific PRO measures assessing QoL, treatment satisfaction or psychiatric health, and included in studies by ≥2 research groups were selected and critically reviewed in light of scientific and regulatory guidance (e.g. FDA PRO Guidance for Industry) for evidence of content validity, psychometric strength, and patient acceptability. The literature search and hand-searching yielded 122 publications; 78 unique PRO measures assessing QoL, treatment satisfaction or psychiatric health were identified. Five PRO measures met the selection criteria for detailed review: Fertility Quality of Life (FertiQoL); Fertility Problem Inventory (FPI); Fertility Problem Stress (FPS); Infertility Questionnaire (IFQ); Illness Cognitions Questionnaire adapted for Infertility (ICQ-I). None of the PRO measures met all validation criteria. The FertiQoL was the most widely used infertility-specific PRO measure to assess QoL in interventional studies, with reasonable evidence for adequate content validity, psychometric strength, and linguistic validation. However, gaps in evidence remain including test-retest reliability and thresholds for interpreting clinically important changes. While the FPI demonstrated reasonable evidence for content and psychometric validity, its utility as an outcome measure is limited by a lack of recall period. The FertiQoL and the FPI are potentially useful measures of infertility-related QoL in interventional studies. Further research is recommended to address gaps in evidence and confirm both PRO measures as reliable assessments of patient outcomes.

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Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 109 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
Italy 1 <1%
Unknown 108 99%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Ph. D. Student 16 15%
Student > Master 15 14%
Student > Bachelor 9 8%
Other 6 6%
Researcher 6 6%
Other 19 17%
Unknown 38 35%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Medicine and Dentistry 24 22%
Psychology 22 20%
Nursing and Health Professions 11 10%
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology 6 6%
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 3 3%
Other 6 6%
Unknown 37 34%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 1. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 28 April 2017.
All research outputs
#17,890,958
of 22,968,808 outputs
Outputs from Health and Quality of Life Outcomes
#1,510
of 2,183 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#220,633
of 309,813 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Health and Quality of Life Outcomes
#47
of 73 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 22,968,808 research outputs across all sources so far. This one is in the 19th percentile – i.e., 19% of other outputs scored the same or lower than it.
So far Altmetric has tracked 2,183 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a little more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 5.5. This one is in the 21st percentile – i.e., 21% of its peers scored the same or lower than it.
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We're also able to compare this research output to 73 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one is in the 1st percentile – i.e., 1% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.