Quality of Life in Patients with Urinary Incontinence: A Cross Sectional Study

Background: Urinary incontinence in women severely affects the physical, social and psychological aspects of life. Objectives: To find out the Quality of Life in female patients with urinary incontinence in a tertiary care hospital. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional, observational study was conducted in the Gynecology out-patient department. All non-pregnant women ≥21 years of age, attending the Gynecology OPD of tertiary care hospital for various complaints were included in the study. After obtaining written informed consent, demographics, relevant medical and surgical history was noted, and they were then administered two validated questionnaire 'Incontinence Quality of Life Questionnaire' (IQOL) and SF-36. Result: The overall incidence of incontinence in this population was 17.0%, with a steadily rising incidence by age. The incidence was more in postmenopausal than premenopausal women. Menopausal women compared to non-menopausal women also had significantly higher incontinence QOL scores (median of 5 vs. 3; p=0.001). Avoidance and limiting behavior (ALB), Psychosocial impact (PSI) and social embarrassment (SE) scores were studied improved after 24 weeks. Items determining ALB had high correlation coefficient with total ALB and all of them were statistically significant. Items determining PSI had statistically significant correlation with mean PSI with all the items except two items. But among the items