• Barbara D Reed, Hope K Haefner, Siobán D Harlow, Daniel W Gorenflo, and Ananda Sen.
• Department of Family Medicine, Epidemiology, School of Public Health, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-0708, USA. barb@umich.edu
• Obstet Gynecol. 2006 Oct 1; 108 (4): 906-13.

ObjectiveTo evaluate the reliability and validity of self-reported symptoms to predict vulvodynia, compared with examination-based confirmation.MethodsBetween August 5, 2004, and December 13, 2004, 1,046 members of the University of Michigan Women's Health Registry were surveyed regarding the presence of symptoms suggestive of vulvodynia. Diagnoses of vulvodynia and of control status based on survey responses were made, and a subset of these respondents was evaluated in the office.ResultsOne thousand forty-six of 1,447 (72.3%) eligible women, aged 19 to 92 years, completed the survey. Seventy-nine (7.6%) of the survey respondents who reported ongoing vulvar pain lasting more than 3 months were predicted to have vulvodynia, while women reporting no current pain with intercourse and no history of prolonged vulvar pain were predicted to be controls (N = 543). Agreement between the history taken at the office and that reported on the survey was very good (reliability: Cohen's kappa = 0.86, 95% confidence interval 0.73-0.99). Of the 28 women predicted to have vulvodynia who were examined in the office, 27 (96.4%) were confirmed to have vulvodynia, and 28 of the 34 (82.4%) asymptomatic women examined did not have increased vulvar sensitivity (Cohen's kappa = 0.78, 95% confidence interval 0.64-0.92).ConclusionExcellent reliability and validity of survey responses for predicting vulvodynia were demonstrated.Level Of EvidenceII-2.

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