The effect of overactive bladder syndrome on the sexual quality of life in Korean young and middle aged women

Abstract

Some reports showed that urinary incontinence (UI) or female lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) affect life quality and sexual activity. In clinical practice, it is commonly found that not only the symptoms of UI but also overactive bladder (OAB) syndrome affect daily lifestyle and sexual activity, especially in women in the most active era in their social and personal life. However, there is lack of data proving the effect of OAB syndrome on sexual activity or sexual life quality in sexually active age group. This study aimed at evaluating the effect of OAB syndrome and UI on the sexual activity and on the sexual quality of life (QoL) of Korean women age from 20s to 40s. We investigated 3372 women aged between 20 and 49 y, enrolled via a multicenter internet survey. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data about their LUTS and sexual activities. The prevalence of OAB syndrome and UI in 3372 women was 12.7 and 21.0%, respectively. Mean subject age was 26.474.8 y and 79.5% of subjects were 20-29 y old. Having OAB syndrome or UI were found to be significant predictors of sexual life problems (OAB syndrome: OR ¼ 5.08, 95% CI ¼ 3.68-7.01; UI: OR ¼ 4.16, 95% CI ¼ 3.06-5.67). Sexual activity was significantly reduced in OAB syndrome and UI versus the asymptomatic group (OAB syndrome: OR ¼ 4.8, 95% CI ¼ 3.14-6.83; UI: OR ¼ 3.9, 95% CI ¼ 2. 81-5.27). This study is the first internet-based study concerning the sexual QoL in UI and OAB syndrome. In this study, OAB syndrome was found to cause a greater deterioration in the sexual QoL than UI. These results suggest that these symptoms have a significant impact upon women's personal and social lives and markedly affect the QoL.

Coital urinary incontinence: impact on quality of life as measured by the King’s Health Questionnaire

“…The importance of this relationship is such that combined with the rest of the symptoms and other variables of the patients, it is the only variable that demonstrates to be independently related to the KHQ global score (Table 3). Although the influence of UI symptoms in the sexual function and QoL seems clear, according to different authors [1,10,11], there were no available concluding data on the relative importance of the symptom of urine loss during sexual intercourse on the deterioration of the QoL of women who suffer it. The results of the present study agree with those of the study presented by Oh et al [6] in which women with coital UI showed worse scores in two QoL-measuring questionnaires: the SF-36 Health Survey and the BFLUTS questionnaire.…”

Evaluation of Sexual Function in Women with Overactive Bladder Syndrome

“…In the study of Kim et al [17] it is found that OAB symptoms could interrupt sexual life 4.8-fold more often than in the asymptomatic group. In another study including an urge incontinence subgroup of OAB, Aslan et al [18] reported that urinary incontinence significantly reduced female sexual function.…”

Efficacy of tolterodine on overactive bladder symptoms and sexual and emotional quality of life in sexually active women

“…Notably, OAB and UUI have been shown to be associated with reduced health-related quality of life (HRQL) and increased rates of depression in women [7][8][9]. Urinary symptoms are also associated with reduced rates of sexual activity and poorer sexual quality of life (QoL) in women [10][11][12][13] and the available data suggest that bladder dysfunction can be a contributor to sexual dysfunction in premenopausal women [14]. Women with UI report impaired sexual function, such as decreased libido, vaginal dryness, and pain during intercourse [15].…”