Evaluation of quality of life in diabetic women with and without urinary incontinence

Aim: The purpose of this study is; to assess the quality of life of women with and without urinary incontinence and to identify factors that cause urinary incontinence Materials and Methods: The analytical cross-sectional study consisted of 512 women with Type I and Type II diabetes referred to internal and endocrine clinics of a public hospital. Data were collected with the patient's diagnosis form, the Incontinence Quality of Life Scale and the International Incontinence Questionnaire-Short Form. The obtained data were expressed as percentile and mean ± standard deviation (SS) and one way ANOVA, t test, Kruskal Wallis variance analysis, chi-square, Pearson correlation, multiple regression and logistic regression analyzes were used. Results: The mean age of the 512 diabetic women in the study was 53.34 ± 11.19 years and 64.3% (n = 329) had urinary incontinence. Women with urinary incontinence had an average UTI score of 59.5 ± 10.1, which was lower than those without urinary incontinence. Factors causing urinary incotence; high LDL cholesterol, fasting blood glucose and triglyceride levels, as well as factors such as age, advanced age, presence of hypertension, normal delivery, number of excess births, previous genitourinary intervention and urinary tract infection. In addition, the number of births, duration of incontinence, duration of menopause, duration of diabetes, fasting blood glucose, LDL and triglyceride levels were found to be decreased in diabetic women with urinary incontinence. Conclusions: Women with urinary incontinence were found to have lower quality of life than those without diabetes. It is suggested that diabetic women with advanced age, normal and overbirth, hypertension, history of previous urinaryogenital operation or urinary tract infections should be evaluated for urinary incontinence and education should be given to increase quality of life. Key words: Diabetes women, incontinence, quality of life.