URINARY-INCONTINENCE IN WOMEN OF REPRODUCTIVE AGE

We investigated the prevalence and the consequence of urinary incontin ence in the Turkish population, representing a composition of European and Asian populations. During a 12-month period, the standard urinary incontinence questionnaire was answered by 1,250 women of reproductiv e age who were admitted to the outpatient clinic with various gynecolo gic complaints, except for women whose main complaints were urinary in continence. These patients were randomly selected by stratification ac cording to the following five age-groups: 18-24, 25-29, 30-34, 35-39, and 40-44. The prevalence of incontinence was measured for each group. Urinary incontinence prevalence was 24.5%; in 6.6% the incontinence o ccurred at least once daily. The lowest prevalence was found in the yo unger age-groups (18-29 years) and the highest in 40-44 years of age. Two hundred and sixty-one incontinent women (85%) had never sought med ical help. The results indicated that urinary incontinence was common among women of reproductive age and only few sought medical help. We s uggest that more public education about women's urinary problems and m ore attention to this problem by physicians are the mainstays of manag ement.