Evaluation of lower urinary tract symptoms and how bothersome it was with or without urinary incontinence in apparently healthy persons of both sexes.

ABSTRACT

We evaluated the effect of urinary incontinence on the degree of being bothersome in apparently healthy males and females by a questionnaire survery. From March to May, 2003 apparently healthy subjects underwent multiphasic health screening after informed of the nature of this study and were asked to fill out the questionnaires of International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS) with IPSS QOL index (IPSS-QI) and the short form version of the Urogenital Distress Inventory (UDI-6). The data were subjected to analytical studies. Of the 388 participants who responded completely to both questionnaires, 172 (44.3%) had urinary incontinence; 143 were women (36.9%) and 29 men (7.5%). The mean age of the women was 46.0 years (range 18.0 to 76.0) and that of men was 47.5 years (range 22.0 to 76.0). Compared with continent participants, women and men with mixed urinary incontinence had a significantly higher IPSS severity (P = 0.0002 and P = 0.0014, respectively). In terms of contribution on QOL impairment, the women and men with mixed urinary incontinence considered it significantly more bothersome compared with continent participants (P = 0.0004 and P = 0.0003, respectively). These data showed that urinary incontinence was relatively common among apparently healthy women, but not men, and type of incontinence had a different impact on the degree of being bothersome in both sexes.