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Intra- and inter-rater reliability of urethral mobility measurement by ultrasound in women: a cross-section study

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Abstract

Introduction and hypothesis

To verify the intra- and inter-rater reliability of urethral mobility measurement evaluated by ultrasound (US).

Methods

This is a reliability study realized according to Consensus-based Standards for the selection of health Measurement Instruments (COSMIN) recommendations. Twenty-one nulliparous women (25.5 ± 3.3 SD years) were volunteers. Two examiners (E1 and E2) performed the measurement of urethral mobility at rest and Valsalva on the same day. Three measurements were recorded for each moment and the mean of them were used for analysis. To perform the analysis, bladder mobility was calculated using the following equation: \( UM=\sqrt{{\left( Vy- Ry\right)}^2+{\left( Vx- Rx\right)}^2} \), where “x” is the vertical distance, “y” is the horizontal distance from the dorsocaudal margin of the pubic symphysis, “V” is the Valsalva maneuver, and “R” means rest. The intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was calculated considering: ICC ≥ 0.75, excellent; 0.40 ≤ ICC <0.75, satisfactory; ICC < 0.40, poor, with a significance level of 5% and 95% confidence interval.

Results

The intra-rater reliabilities of E1 and E2 were considered excellent between the two evaluations, with ICC 0.98 (p < 0.0001) for the E1 and 0.84 (p < 0.0001) for E2. The inter-rater reliability was considered excellent (ICC = 0.83).

Conclusions

Both intra- and inter-rater reliabilities of urethral mobility measurement were considered to have excellent agreement.

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Funding

This study was financed in part by Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq), Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior – (CAPES)-Finance Code 001 and São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP), project no. 2018/26718-9.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Women’s Health Research Laboratory, Physical Therapy Department, Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar), Rodovia Washington Luís, km 235, Monjolinho, São Carlos, SP, 13565-905, Brazil

    Ana Jessica dos Santos Sousa, Juliana Falcão Padilha, Jordana Barbosa da Silva & Patricia Driusso

  2. Medicine Department, São Carlos, Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar), Rodovia Washington Luís, km 235, Monjolinho, São Carlos, SP, 13565-905, Brazil

    Humberto Sadanobu Hirakawa

  3. Statistics Department, Federal University of Santa Maria (UFSM), Av Roraima 1000, Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul, CEP 97105-900, Brazil

    Enio Júnior Seidel

Authors
  1. Ana Jessica dos Santos Sousa
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  2. Juliana Falcão Padilha
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  3. Jordana Barbosa da Silva
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  4. Humberto Sadanobu Hirakawa
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  5. Enio Júnior Seidel
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  6. Patricia Driusso
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Contributions

AJS Sousa: Project development, data collection, manuscript writing/editing, other (approval of the submitted version).

JF Padilha: Project development, data collection, manuscript writing/editing, other (approval of the submitted version).

JB Silva: Data collection, manuscript writing/editing, other (approval of the submitted version).

HS Hirakawa: Project development, other (approval of the submitted version).

EJ Seidel: Data analysis, manuscript writing/editing, other (approval of the submitted version).

P Driusso: Project development, manuscript writing/editing, other (approval of the submitted version).

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Patricia Driusso.

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Ethics approval

This study was approved by the Ethics and Research Committee of Federal University of São Carlos (CAAE: 17429019.3.0000.5504).

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dos Santos Sousa, A.J., Padilha, J.F., da Silva, J.B. et al. Intra- and inter-rater reliability of urethral mobility measurement by ultrasound in women: a cross-section study. Int Urogynecol J 32, 119–125 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00192-020-04381-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00192-020-04381-7

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