A comparison of pelvic floor muscle strength, incontinence symptoms and quality of life in regard to urinary incontinence TYPE: A retrospective study

This study aimed to compare pelvic floor muscle strength, intontinence symptoms and quality of life in regard to urinary incontinence type retrospectively. Socio-demographic characteristics and urinary symptoms of 470 women, whose age average was 52.62±11.39 years and with stress, urgency and mixed urinary incontinence, were recorded. Urinary incontinence amounts were assessed by 1 hour-pad test, pelvic floor muscle strength was assessed by electromyography, their quality of life was assessed by Life Quality Questionnaire in Women with Urinary Incontinence and its effect on life and the perceived dryness sensation was assessed by 10cm-visual analog scale. Whether the numerical characteristics in each group show normal distribution was examined by Kolmogorov Smirnov and Shapiro Wilk tests. Kruskal-Wallis test and post hoc Dunn test were used for comparisons. The statistically significance level was accepted as p≤0.05 and PASW 18 v. program was used in the estimations. The age averages of the women with stress urinary incontinence were found to be low (p=0.02). In women with stress and mixed urinary incontinence, the incontinence ratio was found higher with coughing, sneezing, lifting and laughing (p<0.05). Considering the incontinence period and urinary incontinence amounts based on urinary incontinence type, it was determined that there was a difference and this difference originated from women with mixed urinary incontinence (p<0.05). Women with stress urinary incontinence were able to stop urinating (p=0.031). Pelvic floor muscle strength was determined to be similar among urinary incontinence types (p=0.321). Dryness sensation sensed by women with mixed urinary incontinence, its effect on their lives and their life quality was worse (p<0.001). In the present study, it was found that urinary incontinence type had no effect on pelvic floor muscle strength and mixed urinary incontinence type affected the women's lives adversely.