Functioning and disability of premenopausal women with urinary incontinence: An assessment by using the World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule-WHODAS 2.0

Abstract

Aims: To analyze the association between urinary incontinence and disability status in premenopausal women.

Materials and methods: The study included 120 premenopausal women recruited from six Basic Family Health Units to participate in this study. We assessed sociodemographic, gynecological, and obstetric data by using specific questions. The International Continence Society's definitions were applied to determine the presence and type of urinary incontinence, and the disability was assessed by using the 36-item version of the World Health Organization Disability Assessment Schedule (WHODAS) 2.0.

Results: The WHODAS scores showed that women with urinary incontinence had a worse disability in cognition (P = .023) and mobility (P = .020) domains, in addition to the total score (P = .23). Women with mixed urinary incontinence had a worse disability in mobility domain (P = .039) than those with stress or urgency incontinence. Qualitative analyses of disability showed a significant difference between women with and without urinary incontinence (P = .033), with higher percentages of incontinent women with moderate and severe disability. Women who reported urinary incontinence had 7.69 more points on the final score of WHODAS than those who did not report this outcome.

Conclusions: Urinary incontinence in women of reproductive age is associated with disability and worse scores of WHODAS when we compare them to women without urine leakage. The results presented can be useful for designing and adapting strategies for comprehensive care of women with urinary incontinence and disability, and developing rehabilitation programs based on functioning.

Keywords: International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health; disability evaluation; functioning; urinary incontinence; women.