The relationship between clinical parameters and health-related quality of life as measured by the 15D in incontinent women before and after treatment

Abstract

Background: The purpose of this study was to correlate the clinical parameters with a health-related quality of life (HRQoL) measure and to describe the change of HRQoL caused by treatment and its modifying factors among urinary incontinent women.

Methods: Eighty-two incontinent women, referred to a tertiary gynecologic department, underwent clinical evaluation to establish diagnosis and severity of urinary incontinence (UI) and completed the generic 15D HRQoL instrument. Sixty-nine women were re-evaluated 13 months after treatment.

Results: Compared to age-matched female general population, the HRQoL of urinary incontinent women was significantly lower. Urge or mixed incontinence impairs HRQoL more than stress incontinence. The 15D scores correlated poorly with urodynamics, frequency/volume chart findings, and the amount of urine leakage. Among patients with stress UI (SUI), the HRQoL after treatment was the same as in the age-matched general female population. Among women with urge or mixed UI, the HRQoL improved significantly after treatment but did not reach the HRQoL level of women with SUI at baseline. In stepwise regression analysis, lower the 15D score at baseline and bigger the decrease in urine leakage, greater was the change in HRQoL for the better.

Conclusion: There was a modest correlation of incontinence severity measures with quality of life impairment. The challenge for the future will be to improve the success of treatment for women with urge UI. The generic 15D appears to be sensitive to detect change in HRQoL due to treatment of UI women.