Experience with different questionnaires in the management of patients with CP/CPPS: GPSS, IPSS and NIH-CPSI.

A number of different self assessment questionnaires have been developed in order to evaluate specific symptoms of chronic prostatitis. The most popular indices in Germany are the Giessen Prostatitis Symptom Score(GPSS), the International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS) and the Chronic Prostatitis Symptom Index of the National Institutes of Health (NIH-CPSI). The major aim of our study was the evaluation of these questionnaires in patients with chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CP/CPPS). In addition, we analysed questionable differences in symptomatology between the subgroups NIH III A and B. A total of 203 native speaking German men with symptoms of CP/CPPS attending the Giessen prostatitis outpatient department were included in our protocol. According to the strict criteria of the Giessen examination protocol, 84 men were classified as CP/CPPS type NIH III B and 54 men as NIH III A. The psychometric and descriptive results were analysed with SPSS software. The Cronbach alpha, as a parameter for the internal consistency for each index, showed acceptable values. The correlation coefficient for each index was also sufficient. The median total scores of the GPSS and NIH-CPSI were significantly higher in patients with CP/CPPS type NIH III B. The IPSS results were the same. All symptom indices demonstrated acceptable to good values for psychometric validation. Similar symptomatic findings were available using GPSS and NIH-CPSI.