Postpartum urinary and anal incontinence: a population-based study of quality of life of primiparous women in Quebec.

OBJECTIVE

To describe the quality of life of primiparous women with urinary or anal incontinence.

METHODS

A questionnaire was mailed at six months postpartum to 2492 primiparous women living in Quebec. The prevalence of urinary incontinence was assessed at six months postpartum through the FPSUND severity score index; the prevalence of anal incontinence was assessed by the grading system of Vaizey et al.; the quality of life of women who developed incontinence was assessed using the Shumaker's I-QOL for urinary incontinence and Lowry's quality of life instrument for anal incontinence. Descriptive analysis, t-test, analysis of variance, and linear regression were used.

RESULTS

The prevalence of urinary incontinence was 29.6% and of anal incontinence was 20.6%. Quality of life was affected significantly by the presence of urinary incontinence or both forms of incontinence (P 0.001) and by the type of urinary incontinence (P < 0.001). Women with all types of anal incontinence had significantly lower quality of life scores for access to toilet (P < 0.001), lifestyle (P < 0.01), self-esteem (P = 0.037), and total score (P < 0.001). Quality of life correlated with the severity of both urinary incontinence and anal incontinence: the more severe the urinary or anal incontinence, the lower the quality of life score.

CONCLUSION

Women who have urinary or anal incontinence, or both, have significant reductions in indicators of quality of life. Research is needed to evaluate strategies for preventing and treating these problems.