Objective: To investigate the contribution of obstetric risk factors to persistent urinary incontinence (UI) between 4 and 18 months postpartum.
Design: Prospective pregnancy cohort.
Setting: Six metropolitan public hospitals in Victoria, Australia. Sample A total of 1507 nulliparous women recruited to the Maternal Health Study in early pregnancy (≤ 24 weeks of gestation).
Methods: Data from hospital records and self-administered questionnaires/telephone interviews at ≤ 24 and 30-32 weeks of gestation and at 3, 6, 9, 12 and 18 months postpartum analysed using logistic regression.
Main Outcome Measures: Persistent UI 4-18 months postpartum in women continent before pregnancy.
Results: Of the women who were continent before pregnancy, 44% reported UI 4-18 months postpartum, and 25% reported persistent UI (symptoms at multiple follow ups). Compared with spontaneous vaginal birth, women who had a caesarean before labour (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 0.4, 95% confidence interval [95% CI] 0.2-0.9), in first-stage labour (aOR 0.4, 95% CI 0.2-0.6) or in second-stage labour (aOR 0.4, 95% CI 0.2-1.0) were less likely to report persistent UI 4-18 months postpartum. Prolonged second-stage labour in women who had an operative vaginal birth was associated with increased likelihood of UI (aOR 2.5, 95% CI 1.3-4.6). Compared with women who were continent in pregnancy, women reporting UI in pregnancy had a seven-fold increase in odds of persistent UI (aOR 7.4, 95% CI 5.1-10.7).
Conclusions: Persistent UI is common after childbirth and is more likely following prolonged labour in combination with operative vaginal birth. The majority of women reporting persistent UI at 4-18 months postpartum also experienced symptoms in pregnancy.
Written by:
Gartland D, Donath S, Macarthur C, Brown S. Are you the author?
Healthy Mothers Healthy Families Research Group Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics Unit, Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Melbourne, Australia; School of Health and Population Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK.
Reference: BJOG. 2012 Oct;119(11):1361-9.
doi: 10.1111/j.1471-0528.2012.03437.x
PubMed Abstract
PMID: 22827735
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