Urinary incontinence and work capacity.

Introduction: The purpose of this study was to explore if and how urinary incontinence affects work capacity and work-related quality of life.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional questionnaire study using a Danish validated questionnaire. The questionnaire was distributed to Danish municipal employees.

Results: The questionnaire was completed by 3,182 municipal workers 840 of whom experience urinary incontinence, which is equivalent to 26.4% of all participating municipal employees. Among these, 18.5% worried about their urinary incontinence at work, 14.1% reported that the condition disturbed their working life in a moderate to severe degree and 22% experienced interrupted night sleep caused by urinary incontinence. Physically demanding tasks were avoided by 4.5% of the municipal employees, whereas 1.5% reported sick leave. Finally, 0.5% planned early retirement due to their urinary incontinence.

Conclusions: This study revealed a 26.4% prevalence of urinary incontinence among Danish municipal employees. We conclude that urinary incontinence affected the work-related quality of life with daily worries about accidents, odours, toilet access, fluid intake and interrupted night sleep. Furthermore, in the group reporting urinary incontinence, 1.5% had sick leave and 0.5% changed their retirement plans due to incontinence.

Funding: This project was funded by "Satspuljemidler" allocated by the Danish Health Ministry to Kontinensforeningen.

Trial registration: The project is approved by the Danish Data Agency (656336).