The relationship between symptom severity and quality of life in women diagnosed with urinary incontinence

AIM: Urinary incontinence in women causing a reduction in the quality of life is a commonly seen health problem. This study was conducted with the aim of determining the relationship between symptom severity and quality of life in women diagnosed with urinary incontinence. MATERIAL and METHOD: The study was conducted between March and June 2017, and included 160 women who attended Ege University Medical Faculty Hospital Outpatients' Department with a complaint of urinary incontinence. An Individual Description Form prepared by the researchers and consisting of 26 questions and the King Health Questionnaire (KHQ) were used in the collection of data. Findings were evaluated with a 95% confidence interval and significance at the level of p<0.05. FINDINGS: The mean age of the women participating on the study was 52.78±10.89 years; 45% were obese, 41.9% were educated to primary level, and 61.3% were housewives. Risk factors for the development of urinary incontinence were found to be advanced age, number of births, entering the menopause, having undergone an operation on the lower abdominal area, constipation, caffeine consumption, the presence of a chronic illness, chronic coughing, an inactive lifestyle, and lifting heavy objects. Examining the mean scores of the participants on the subdimensions of the first part of the King Health Questionnaire, these were found to be 41.09±20.48 for General State of Health, 56.46±28.47 for the Effect of Incontinence, 41.04±33.43 for Role Limitation, 46.67±33.01 for Physical Limitation, 31.94±30.26 for Social limitation, 15.94±25.72 for Personal Relations, 43.61±34.82 for Emotions, 27.71±27.97 for Sleep Energy Level, and 38.46±24.56 for Severity Measures. The mean subscale score on the second half of the scale (Symptom Severity Scale) was found to be 9.56±5.97. A statistically significant positive correlation was found between the Symptom Severity Scale and all subdimensions (p<0.01). CONCLUSION: It was concluded that the presence of incontinence in the women affected the subdimensions of the King Health Questionnaire at a moderate level, and that as the severity of incontinence symptoms increased, the quality of life declined. Keywords: woman; urinary incontinence; quality of life; symptom severity