Prevalence, incidence, and awareness in the treatment of menopausal urinary incontinence

Objectives: To investigate the prevalence of urinary incontinence and to evaluate the awareness of treatment in postmenopausal women. Methods: The study group was comprised of 3026 postmenopausal women consulting the outpatient clinic. One component of the urological questions was formulated to determine the voiding habits and presence or absence of urinary incontinence. The incontinent responders were questioned further regarding the nature of the urine loss to determine the severity of incontinence. Results: It was reported by 26.3% (795/3026) of the respondents that they currently had urinary incontinence. They were classified by types as follows: stress 64.9%, urge 18.6%, and mixed incontinence 7.3%. The incidence of women who desired medical treatment for incontinence was only 2.9% (87/3026), while the incidence of women who actually received medical treatment for urinary incontinence was 1.9% (56/3026). Conclusions: We conclude that urinary incontinence was prevalent to a significant extent among postmenopausal women, but that few affected individuals in this group consulted the medical center desiring clinical treatment. The present study demonstrated that it is necessary to improve the awareness of postmenopausal women concerning the benefits of seeking treatment for urinary incontinence, in order to improve their quality of life. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.