Do proxies reflect patients' health concerns about urinary incontinence and gait problems?

Table 1 Item Descriptor, Number of Patient-Proxy Pairs and Intraclass-Correlation Coefficients of Individual Items in the pSF-12p, pUI Scale, and FES

Item descriptor	N	ICC*	%Bias†
pSF-12 PCS Items
Self-report health (poor/fair/good/very good/excellent)	41	0.38	8.5%
Limitation in vigorous activities?	43	0.27	3.5%
Limitation moderate activities?	42	0.54	9.5%
Limitation in climbing several flights of stairs	43	0.39	8.1%
Limitation in dressing/bathing yourself	43	0.08	9.3%
Limited kind of activities/work	43	0.09	-16.3%
pUI Scale Items^‡
Worry about getting to the toilet on time	24	0.64	-8.3%
Have to be careful about sitting/standing	23	0.60	-1.1%
Worry where the toilets are in new places	24	0.51	0.0%
Don't feel free to leave home	24	0.14	-3.1%
Worry about others smelling urine on me	24	0.39	-9.4%
Frequent trip to toilet is important	24	0.43	-5.2%
Plan details in advance	24	0.29	-8.3%
Hard to get good sleep	24	0.63	-4.2%
Watch what/how much to drink	24	0.07	-4.2%
Limited choice of clothing	22	-0.10	1.1%
FES Items^‡
Cleaning the house	32	0.10	17.7%
Getting dressed	32	0.23	9.4%
Preparing simple meals	32	0.38	-3.1%
Taking a bath/shower	32	0.26	3.1%
Simple shopping	30	0.10	15.6%
Getting in and out of a chair	32	0.23	6.3%
Going up/down stairs	32	0.02	24.0%
Walking around the neighborhood	32	0.10	18.8%
Reaching into cabinets or closets	32	0.19	0.0%
Going to answer the telephone	32	0.09	8.3%

* Intraclass correlation
† * Mean proxy answers compared to patient answers on the item expressed as the percentage of the full scale points. Negative values indicate proxies indicated worse health on pSF and less concerned on FES and pUI.
‡ For proxy interview, the pUI and FES items were modified to address proxy's concerns about patient UI and fear of patient falling

ISSN: 1477-7525