title: Urinary Incontinence in Premenopausal Women: Prevalence, Risk Factors and Impact on Quality of Life.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine the prevalence and risk factors of urinary incontinence (UI), and assess its impact on the quality of life (QOL) in premenopausal women.
  
  
  METHODS
  In this cross-sectional study, 690 women aged from 18 to 53 were interviewed using a demographic questionnaire and the International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire Short Form.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The overall prevalence of any UI was 27.2%. Of the 188 women reporting UI the types were: stress 36.7%, urgency 32.4% and mixed 30.9%. The mean value of the age and body mass index (BMI) of the cases with UI was statistically significantly higher than the group without UI (P < 0.01). In the premenopausal women of similar age and BMI the incontinence rate was significantly higher in those who had a normal vaginal delivery than those who had a Cesarean section (P < 0.01). In the logistic regression analysis it was determined that the effect on the occurrence of incontinence was as follows in terms of age, education and number of pregnancies; age > 35 years had an odds ratio of 1.896 (95% confidence interval [CI]:1.29-2.80); the effect of the status of not attending a school or only attending primary school had an odds ratio 1.839 (95% CI: 1.23-2.75) and the number of pregnancies > 2 had an odds ratio 1.495 (95% CI:1.00-2.26).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Being older than 35, having a low educational level and a gravida greater than two are the independent risk factors in terms of the occurrence of UI in premenopausal women.
authors.affiliation: Department of Family Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan University, Rize, Turkey.
authors.forename: Mehmet
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ünlü
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Faculty of Medicine, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan University, Rize, Turkey.
authors.forename: Işık
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Üstüner
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Faculty of Medicine, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan University, Rize, Turkey.
authors.forename: Emine Seda G
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Güven
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Faculty of Medicine, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan University, Rize, Turkey.
authors.forename: Şenol
authors.initials: Ş
authors.lastname: Şentürk
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Faculty of Medicine, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan University, Rize, Turkey.
authors.forename: Figen K
authors.initials: FK
authors.lastname: Şahin
keywords: premenopause; prevalence; quality of life; urinary incontinence