Undetected prevalence of urinary incontinence among middle-aged women and its association with quality of life

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: The study was conducted to determine the undiagnosed prevalence of urinary incontinence and its association with the quality of life in middle-aged and older women. METHODS: The sample of the study consisted of women aged 40 years or above who were admitted to a tertiary care center between March and July 2019. The data were collected by face-to-face interview method. “International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire-Short Form (ICIQ-SF)” and “Incontinence Quality of Life Questionnaire (I-QOL)” were used to collect data on urinary incontinence and quality of life. RESULTS: The screened sample included 140 women (mean age: 60.6 ± 11.3 years). Urinary incontinence was detected in 90 subjects (64.3%). Urinary incontinence complaints were present for an average of four years. Self-rated effect on daily life was moderate (ICIQ-SF: 5.0 ± 2.5), and more than half of them (64.4%) did not consider urinary incontinence as a health issue, More than half (62.9%) did not admit for prefossional care for many reasons. The average score was 85.0 ± 14.7 from the "Psychosocial influence" sub-dimension, 71.0 ± 16.9 from the "Social isolation" sub-dimension, 65.1 ± 16.6 from the "Limitation of behaviors" sub-dimension, and 74.6 ± 14.5 from the whole scale. There was no significant relationship between I-QOL total score and educational status, marital status, income level, chronic diseases, mode of delivery, and menopause. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: This study found that more than half of women admitted to a hospital for other reasons have urinary incontinence complaints. Although the duration of symptoms was long and quality of life was somehow influenced, admission to a health facility was low. Keywords: Urinary incontinence, quality of life, nursing, women's health

Keywords

• Urinary incontinence
• quality of life
• nursing
• women's health