Prevalence of urinary frequency in Taiwanese women aged 20-59 years.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the prevalence of daytime urinary frequency among Taiwanese women aged 20-59 years.


METHODS
In 1998, there were an estimated 5.9 million female residents aged 20-59 years in Taiwan. A random sample of 4,549 women was chosen by multistage sampling. Face-to-face visits with 3,537 women were completed by trained professional interviewers within 3 months of the subjects' selection. Questions about lower urinary tract symptoms, sociodemographics, reproduction, and medical and surgical histories were recorded. The factors were assessed by frequency and logistic regression analyses using a significance level of less than 0.05.


RESULTS
The prevalence of urinary frequency in Taiwanese women aged 20-59 years was 5.2% (182/3,519); 18 interviewees did not answer the question about frequency and were excluded. For those who complained of frequency, 47.2% voided 8-15 times a day, 37.4% voided 16-23 times a day, 1.1% voided 24-31 times a day and 14.3% voided more than 31 times a day. The prevalence of urinary frequency was not linked to age (p = 0.326).


CONCLUSIONS
Urinary frequency is a common symptom in women of all ages and is not significantly related to age. More than half of the women interviewed admitted that less than an hour occurred between visits to the restroom during the daytime.
Hsieh
Ching-Hung
CH
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Taipei Medical University--Municipal Wan Fang Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan. ug.doc@msa.hinet.net
Chen
Hsing-Yu
HY
Hsu
Chun-Sen
CS
Chang
Shao-Tung
ST
Kuo
Tsung-Cheng
TC
Chiang
Chien-Dai
CD
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013624:Taiwan / Q000453:epidemiology; D014555:Urination Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*