[Quality of life of women with stress urinary incontinence with or without pollakiuria]

Abstract

Objectives: Assess improvement in quality of life using a validated scale in women with urge incontinence or pollakiuria treated with oxybutynine.

Patients and methods: A prospective open multicentric trial was conducted in 1701 women aged 20 to 60 years (mean 47.6) with the last 2 months. Quality of life was assessed on the Ditrovie scale before and after a 3-month treatment with oxybutynin (7.5 to 15 mg/day).

Results: Patient compliance was good (97%) and side effects rare (8%) (mainly dry mouth). There was a significant symptom improvement (p < or = 0.0001) between day 0 and day 90 after treatment: 48% of the women no longer had incontinence with a safety interval of more than 15 minutes compared with 0.2% prior to treatment; urge incontinence disappeared in 75% of the 81% affected women; 82% of the women had an intermictional interval longer than 2 hours after treatment compared with 33% prior to treatment. There was a significant improvement in the quality of life scores after treatment (p < 0.0001), as assessed by the overall score and subscores (daily life, emotional impact, self-image, sleep, well-being).

Conclusion: These findings demonstrate the efficacy of oxybutynine in improving urge incontinence and pollakiuria in women, both in terms of symptom relief and quality of life.