Health-related quality of life and sexual function in women with stress urinary incontinence and overactive bladder.
BACKGROUND
We evaluated the impact of stress urinary incontinence (SUI) and overactive bladder (OAB) on health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and sexual function.


METHODS
A total of 245 women (SUI; n = 123 and OAB; n = 122) from 21 to 79 years old (mean 50.4) were included in the primary analyses. To obtain HRQOL and sexual function assessments, patients were asked to fill in the 'Bristol Female Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms (BFLUTS)' and the 'Medical Outcomes Study Short Form (SF-36)' questionnaires.


RESULTS
Of the eight domains in the SF-36 questionnaire, only 'general health' was significantly different between the groups. Patients with SUI had a better general health than those with OAB (P = 0.016). When comparing the BFLUTS scores in the two groups, the score for 'BFLUTS-filling symptoms' was higher in the OAB group (P = 0.002) but that for 'BFLUTS-incontinence symptoms' was higher in the SUI group (P < 0.001). The score for 'BFLUTS-sex' was higher in the SUI group than in the OAB group but this was not statistically significant (P = 0.096). Of the 169 patients who had a sex life, the SUI group had experienced pain (P = 0.033) and leakage (P = 0.056) more frequently during intercourse than the OAB group.


CONCLUSIONS
Both SUI and OAB have a detrimental impact on patient HRQOL in Korean women. In addition, our findings suggest that women with SUI had more frequently experienced pain during intercourse and coital incontinence than those with OAB.
Oh
Seung-June
SJ
Department of Urology, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea.
Ku
Ja Hyeon
JH
Choo
Myung-Soo
MS
Yun
Jong Min
JM
Kim
Duk Yoon
DY
Park
Won-Hee
WH
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007723:Korea / Q000453:epidemiology; D017533:Marital Status / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008875:Middle Aged; D011788:Quality of Life; D012725:Sexual Behavior / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D053201:Urinary Bladder, Overactive / Q000453:epidemiology*; D014550:Urinary Incontinence, Stress / Q000453:epidemiology*