IHO to manage two new Patient-Reported Outcome Measures for recurrent urinary tract infection.
Commissioned by the social enterprise Live UTI Free, researchers at PARED Insights have designed, developed and validated these new PRO measures to facilitate improved assessment of the rUTI patient experience, within both clinical practice and research settings. The RUTISS is a 15-item measure of patient-reported symptom and pain severity, whilst the RUTIIQ utilises 18 items to evaluate impact to key quality of life domains.
“Worldwide, over 400 million people experience a UTI each year, with 26–44% experiencing a recurrence within six months. This common condition is associated with significant negative consequences for quality of life, and there is an urgent need to address the patient perspective. The RUTISS and the RUTIIQ provide clinicians and researchers with the opportunity to rapidly quantify and monitor the rUTI patient experience and identify areas for intervention. Our aim is that these PROs become the go-to patient engagement tools for rUTI care and research, ultimately improving the lives of all those with the condition” – PARED Insights.
The RUTISS and the RUTIIQ are also of particular interest to pharmaceutical companies and other research organisations developing and testing new treatments and diagnostic approaches. These rUTI-specific measures provide the unique opportunity to gather evidence of the effectiveness of interventions from the patient’s perspective.
IHO has taken on the full management of both the RUTISS and the RUTIIQ, seeking out interested users across the healthcare and clinical research sectors, granting licences, authorising digital reproductions, and overseeing translations of the questionnaires. The developers of the measures are available for expert guidance on their application, including study design and support, and scoring and analysis.
A number of organisations have already licensed the PROs, and we are confident they will continue to be highly sought-after health outcome questionnaires.