To assess the prevalence of urinary incontinence (UI) in a cohort of women attended in primary care gynecological and estimate the incidence and remission rates of UI symptoms at 1 year.
We performed a multicenter prospective cohort study of women attending eight primary care gynecological practices. Consecutive women attended for gynecological issues different from UI were invited to participate in the study by answering the International Consultation on Incontinence questionnaire-Short Form (ICIQ-UI-SF). Patients receiving treatment for UI, during pregnant, and postpartum were excluded. All women with UI symptoms (ICIQ-UI-SF > 0) wishing treatment were studied and treated following routine clinical practice. All women were invited to answer the same questionnaire by phone 1 year after inclusion.
A total of 2,840 women answered the questionnaire; 1,188 (41.8%) had UI symptoms (ICIQ-UI-SF > 0). Accordingly, nearly half (44.9%) had mild UI symptoms. Treatment was requested by only 551/1,188 incontinent women (46.38%), being related to the severity of UI. At 1 year, 2,443 patients/2,840 (86.0%) were found and again responded to the ICIQ-UI-SF. At 1 year the incidence of UI was 5.3% (77 new cases of UI out of 1,652 with the initial ICIQ-UI-SF = 0) while the remission rate of UI among untreated women was 27.9% (144 with ICIQ-UI-SF = 0).
Almost one half of women attended in primary care general gynecology practices have UI symptoms, with less than 50% requesting treatment. In these women, UI is a dynamic process with an incidence of 5.3% and a remission rate of 27.9% at 1 year. Neurourol. Urodynam. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Neurourology and urodynamics. 2016 Jun 06 [Epub ahead of print]
Montserrat Espuña-Pons, Cristina Ros, Jose Antonio Ortega, Francisca Aliaga, Amelia Pérez-González, Maria José Palau, Pelvic Floor Research Group (Grup de Recerca del Sòl Pelvià, GRESP)
Pelvic Floor Unit, ICGON, Hospital Clinic de Barcelona, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain., Pelvic Floor Unit, ICGON, Hospital Clinic de Barcelona, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain., ASSIR Garraf, Institut Català de la Salut, VIlanova i la Geltrú, Spain., ASSIR Pare Claret, Institut Català de la Salut, Barcelona, Spain., Pelvic Floor Unit, ICGON, Hospital Clinic de Barcelona, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain., Pelvic Floor Unit, ICGON, Hospital Clinic de Barcelona, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.