The extent and severity of urinary incontinence amongst women in UK GP waiting rooms

Abstract

The extent and severity of urinary incontinence amongst women in UK GP waiting rooms. Family Practice 2006; 23: 497-506. Introduction. Few women seek help for urinary incontinence. Subsequently, there may be many women accessing primary care services who would benefit from treatment or advice. If high levels of unexpressed need are present in this population, a more proactive approach to continence management may be appropriate, but the feasibility of this depends on an accurate assessment of the level of unmet need in this population.Aim. To assess the prevalence of urinary incontinence in a female population attending primary care and the extent of treatment seeking in relation to level of need. Methods. A cross-sectional survey of urinary incontinence of adult women attending primary care practices in West Yorkshire, London, Glasgow and Leicestershire during a 10-or 15-day period.Results. Three thousand two hundred and seventy-three (54%) women responded. Twentyone per cent reported stress urinary incontinence only, 3.5% reported urge incontinence only and 21% reported mixed stress and urge incontinence during the preceding month (9% had moderate or severe symptoms). Fifty-three per cent of these had not consulted a health care professional, which is equivalent to 1 in 20 of women in GP waiting rooms, most of whom have stress and urge incontinence (75%) or stress incontinence only (21%).Conclusions. Nearly half of female primary care attendees had experienced incontinence during the preceding month, but only a minority had sought help. Even amongst the nearly 1 in 10 women with moderate or severe incontinence only about half had sought help. There remains considerable health decrement due to urinary incontinence in those not receiving help in a population readily accessible to primary care services.

Does urinary incontinence affect quality of life of Greek women less severely? A cross-sectional study in two Mediterranean settings

“…In terms of UI type, classification of UI was based on self reported data, so some misclassification may have occurred. However, our findings support those from other community studies, reporting ''stress'' and ''mixed'' incontinence as the most frequent types, followed by low proportions of ''urge'' incontinence and a small group with ''other'' or ''unclassified'' incontinence [5,33,[38][39][40].…”

“…Previous studies from primary health care centers have reported similar incontinence prevalence rates [31][32][33][34][35]. The lower proportion of UI in the Turkish study group could be attributed to the younger age of participants, since increased age is positively associated with UI prevalence [3,36] and UI percentage increased to a level of 30% when women 35-65 years old were considered.…”

“…However, women with mixed incontinence that was found to be the most frequent type in the Turkish sub-group, seemed to report more severe incontinence than those with stress or urge incontinence [5,33]. This is further supported by a recently published study of 785 incontinent women in Turkey with mean age 50.42 ± 14.95 years, where the percentage of severe and moderate mixed incontinence was found to be almost 80% [41].…”

Drug therapies for postmenopausal urinary incontinence

“…Due to the embarrassing symptoms of UI many women do not seek help (Shaw et al, 2006) Although dated, a study by Sadler (1996) reported that 42% of women affected by UI symptoms waited up to 15 years before seeking help. It is therefor important that health professionals take every oportunity when they come into contact with women (for example at routine screeing visits) to ask about any bladder symptoms they may be experiencing.…”

Managing women presenting with urinary incontinence: is hardiness significant?

“…UI (including overactive bladder, stress, urge and mixed incontinence) is thought to affect around 9.6 million women in the UK [1] and is a reported symptom of up to 46 % of patients attending primary care clinics [2]. However, as precise prevalence estimates are difficult to ascertain because of under-reporting, it is conceivable that the actual number of people with UI is considerably higher [2]. This shortfall in presentation is thought to be due to a range of reasons such as symptom severity, embarrassment, lack of information and/ or confidence regarding treatment options [1].…”