Effect of Kegel exercises on distress symptom and quality of life in elderly Pakistani female with urinary incontinence- a randomized control trial

Background: The stress urinary incontinence was the reason the affected women experienced anxiety and depression. the more severe the symptoms of stress urinary incontinence were, the more negative impact to aspects of quality of life was seen. Objective: To determine the effects of Kegel exercises on distress symptom and quality of life in elderly Pakistani female patients with stress urinary incontinence. Methodology: A single-blinded, randomized control trial was conducted on n=50 female patients having stress urinary incontinence at department of physiotherapy, Haleema Siraj Hospital Rawalpindi from January 2021 to June 2022. The participants with the age above 55 years were recruited through non-probability convenient sampling technique and divided into experimental and control group; n=25 participants in each group. The experimental group received Kegel exercise as an intervention for three months and 3-4 time/day. While control groups didn’t received any intervention but continue the regular medicines. Both groups was evaluated pre and post interventionally (after 3-months) by using urinary distress inventory (UDI) for distress symptoms and incontinence impact questionnaire (IIQ) for quality of life. SPSS version 21 was used for data analysis. Independent t-test was used for between group comparisons of mean differences. Results: The mean age of the study participants was 65.00±8.90 years. Between group analysis, showed that symptom distress {MD=16.21, 95%CI (3.10 to 14.55) on urinary distress inventory (short Form), and life quality {MD=8.83, 95%CI (3.10 to 14.55) on incontinence impact questionnaire significantly greater in experimental group as compared to the control group. Conclusion: Kegel exercises significantly improved distress symptoms and quality of life in females with stress incontinence. Keywords: Elderly, incontinence, Kegel exercises, stress incontinence.