The relationship of socio-demographic variables and quality of life in pregnant women with urinary incontinence, "Beyond the Abstract," by Claudia de Oliveira, et al

BERKELEY, CA (UroToday.com) - This study investigated the occurrence of urinary incontinence (UI) in 495 pregnant women and its relation with socio-demographic variables and quality of life. From all the pregnant women studied, 71.11% of them reported having had UI, which negatively affected their way of life. The results of some studies carried out in different parts of the world are corroborated by our findings. However, what caught our attention is that, differently from all these studies, socio-demographic variables such as level of education and race were highly related to IU, according to results of the logistic regression. In order to obtain this information, the International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire – Short Form (ICIQ-SF) was used during the interviews with the pregnant women in our study. These results suggest that, particularly in Brazil, these were the main indicators of UI during pregnancy.

Different studies showed that black women – still discriminated against on grounds of race and gender in our country – have a low level of education and, as a result, cannot find good jobs; consequently, most of their jobs require a great deal of physical effort, hence making them susceptible to UI.

Besides that, most pregnant Brazilian women are not well informed about pelvic dysfunctions prevention, and, during antenatal care, are not regularly assisted by a multidisciplinary team which includes an obstetrician physiotherapist.

Obstetrician physiotherapy is fundamental in Brazil, mainly because it is a low cost resource in a developing country and does not pose any risk during pregnancy. Despite that, we observed that only a few of the pregnant women in our study did exercises for the pelvic floor muscles, even the simplest ones. We know, however, physiotherapy goes further: besides the prevention of UI it can treat musculoskeletal disorders such as lumbar pain, resulting from the gestation period, and which affects millions of pregnant women all over the world.

As mentioned before, our study showed that black women with low levels of education are the most affected in this matter. This has led us to reflect that apart from the traditional UI risk factors, including parity, weight, and kind of delivery, each country has its own particularities which have to be carefully considered when establishing world guidelines for preventing and treating pelvic disorders during pregnancy.

Public health policies should be reviewed, but, unfortunately, the prevention of pelvic floor dysfunctions is not regarded as a target in Brazil, despite the high percentage of UI, urge incontinence, mixed incontinence, fecal incontinence, vaginal vault prolapse, menopausal and postmenopausal dyspareunia. Our government does not understand that prevention is the key word. Unfortunately, they regard this issue as if it was a natural consequence of ageing, spending millions of public money to treat the disease.

Written by:
Claudia de Oliveira,a Maura Seleme,b Paula F Cansi,c Renata FDC Consentino,c Fernanda Y Kumakura,c Gizelle A Moreira,c and Bary Berghmansd as part of Beyond the Abstract on UroToday.com. This initiative offers a method of publishing for the professional urology community. Authors are given an opportunity to expand on the circumstances, limitations etc... of their research by referencing the published abstract.

aUniversidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
bUniversidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil
cBrazilian Center of Systemic Studies, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
dPelvic Care Center Maastricht, Department of Epidemiology, University of Maastricht, Maastricht, the Netherlands

Urinary incontinence in pregnant women and its relation with socio-demographic variables and quality of life - Abstract

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