The frequency of disorders of the lower urinary tract, urinary incontinence in particular, as evaluated by a questionnaire survey in a gynecological health control population

Abstract

Four thousand four hundred women were examined under the gynecological health control program in Malmö municipality during a period of 11 months. Nine hundred and forty-four (21 per cent) reported that they were troubled by disorders of the urinary tract. These women were given copies of a separate questionnaire, which was subsequently properly answered by 512 women. Of these, 321 (62.7 per cent) indicated urinary incontinence. From the questionnaire alone, it was difficult to characterize the different types of urinary incontinence in the patients. Thus only 42 women (8.2 per cent) seemed to suffer from genuine stress incontinence and 34 women (6.6 per cent) from genuine urge incontinence, whereas 245 (47.9 per cent) had to be characterized as “mixed incontinent”. Hence, it is obvious that in several patients suffering from urinary incontinence, written or combined written and oral interviews do not produce a clear-cut diagnosis and that the etiology and treatment of incontinence in these patients may be uncertain. It is concluded that interviews with most patients suffering from urinary incontinence must be supplemented by objective recordings before a definitive diagnosis and treatment can be prescribed.