[The efficacy of a physiotherapy program in the treatment of stress urinary incontinence in a female rural population]. / Eficacia de un programa de fisioterapia en el tratamiento de la incontinencia urinaria de estrés en una población rural femenina.

OBJECTIVES: To find the acceptance and efficacy of our protocol for exercises of the pelvic floor over short and long periods for women with urinary stress incontinence seen at our health centre. DESIGN: A prospective intervention study. SETTING: Marquesado Health Area: a rural zone to the east of Granada. PARTICIPANTS: 72 women between the ages of 20 and 65 with genuine urinary stress incontinence. INTERVENTION: Application of a pelvic physiotherapy procedure of two simple exercises. At the consultation with doctor and nurse on inclusion in the programme, a questionnaire was filled, the exercises were explained and an explanatory leaflet was given out. Nursing staff attended the women on days 1, 2, 7, 15, 25, 40 and 60. MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS: 72 women with genuine urinary stress incontinence were studied. Their ages ran from 20 to 65 (average 53). 55 women (76.3%) completed the treatment protocol at 60 days. Of these 55, 24 (43.8%) were dry at two months, 12 (21.1%) had improved, 18 (32.7%) experienced no change and 1 (1.8%) reported an increase in her incontinence. We assessed the amount of urine loss, by means of a continence apparatus and through the patients' subjective view. 67.7% of the women with slight incontinence were fully cured, whereas none of those with considerable incontinence were. CONCLUSIONS: Both the efficacy and efficacy of the protocol are highly satisfactory in our community. Our protocol is more efficacious for young women and those with little incontinence.

[Urinary incontinence in adult women: a descriptive study of a rural population]. / Incontinencia urinaria en mujeres en edad adulta: estudio descriptivo en una población rural.

OBJECTIVES: To find the quantitative and qualitative features of urinary incontinence (UI) in an out-patient feminine population in our Health District. DESIGN: Crossover and observational study. PARTICIPANTS: Women between 20 and 65 years old who attended a PC on-demand clinic. INTERVENTION: A questionnaire and a clinical history. RESULTS: Eight PC doctors polled 502 female patients. 40.6% said they had urinary incontinence, the majority (70.3%) of these had stress incontinence. The starting age was between 30 and 51 in 60% of cases. 37.5% of the patients with UI said it had moderate or serious psycho-social repercussions, although only 11.4% had consulted the doctor. CONCLUSIONS: There is a broad range of difference on the prevalence of UI in the literature, which on the whole tends to minimise the problem, due to the diagnostic criteria and methods used. UI is an extremely serious health problem for women, with important repercussions on their quality of life, in spite of which patients do not seek medical help. We health-workers should make an effort to tackle this problem in this broad population-group.