Correlation between urinary symptoms and quality of life among women with urinary incontinence

Abstract

Urinary incontinence (UI) is the complaint of any involuntary leakage of urine; it may bring about several hygiene and social problems. The purpose of this study was to characterize urinary symptoms and to correlate them with the quality of life of 34 women with UI, describing their social-economic, gynecological and obstetric profile. Participants – mean age 55 years old, 76.4% in post-menopause – had their gynecological and obstetric history examined and were interviewed using the King's Health
Questionnaire (duly translated into Portuguese and validated). More than
¾ (79%) of the women reported stress UI affected their lives and 44%
complained of urge-incontinence. Most women considered negative the
impact of UI on their health. Participants reported it little affected the quality of daily life activities, as well as their physical and social life. When
considering the interference of symptoms on their lives, a strong correlation was found between enuresis and poor sleep/energy (r=0,65; p=0,0001) and between urge and emotional disturbances (r=0,67; p=0,0001).