FREQUENCY OF URINARY INCONTINENCE (UI) AND ITS ASSOCIATED RISK FACTORS IN PREGNANT POPULATION

Abstract

Objective: To study the frequency of urinary incontinence and to identify its associated risk factors in pregnancy. Study Design: A descriptive cross sectional study.
Place and Duration of Study: Pak Emirates Military Hospital Rawalpindi, from Feb and Mar 2017. Material and Methods: A descriptive cross sectional study was conducted at tertiary care hospital of Pakistan on 399 pregnant women having antenatal care during third trimester of pregnancy. A well designed questionnaire gathered data on demographic variables, presence or absence of urinary incontinence (UI) in current pregnancy and its associated risk factors. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 20. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression analysis were performed. A p<0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: The overall prevalence of urinary incontinence in our pregnant population was found to be 32.1%. Majority of the participants belonged to the age group of 20-29 years (72.7%) and a weight of 51-60kg (39.6%). A total of 78.4% were parous women with vaginal delivery as predominant mode of previous delivery. One hundred and fifty five (38.8%) of the participants had history of on and off constipation and only 33 (8.3%) experienced pre-pregnancy UI. Of all the patients who had UI, predominant type was stress UI (56%) followed by mixed (32%) and urge (12%) UI. Constipation (p=0.001), pre-pregnancy UI (p<0.01), previous postpartum UI (p<0.01) and family history of UI (p=0.01) had highest association with UI in pregnancy. Conclusion: Almost one third of the women in our study group were found to be affected by UI. By discussing...........