College of Nursing, Sultan Qaboos University, Al Khod, Muscat 123, Oman.
BMC Womens Health. 2013 Apr 8;13:16. doi: 10.1186/1472-6874-13-16.
Urinary incontinence (UI) continues to affect millions of women worldwide and those living in resource poor settings seem to be more affected. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of UI and factors associated with UI symptom severity (UISS) among women in a selected district in India.
A cross-sectional design was used to collect data from a sample of 598 community dwelling women in the age range of 20 to 60 years. Data was collected using a questionnaire survey of participants who were found in their homes.
The prevalence of UI was 33.8% and the majority of women had negative attitudes about the condition. For instance most women were in agreement with statements such as: UI cannot be prevented or cured (98%); women with UI are cursed (97%); women are not supposed to tell anyone about the problem (90%) and others. Of the 202 women with self-reported UI, the majority reported having moderate UISS (78%) and others rated the symptoms as mild (22%). The woman's age at first birth (p<.01) was negatively associated with UISS, while the number of pregnancies (p<.01) and weight of the largest baby ever delivered (p<.01), were positively associated with UISS. The weight of the largest baby delivered had the strongest impact on predicting UISS.
Many community dwelling women are suffering from UI at proportions which warrant significant public health consideration. Therefore public health programs to prevent UI or worsening of symptoms are required and should emphasize health education, because of the pervasive negative attitudes among affected and unaffected women. The predictors reported here can be used to priotize care for affected women and to encourage early uptake of health actions and behaviors that promote pelvic floor strengthening in at risk women who may be reluctant to disclose UI.
尿失禁（UI）继续影响着全世界数以百万计的女性，而那些生活在资源匮乏环境中的女性似乎受到的影响更大。本研究的目的是确定在印度一个选定地区，女性尿失禁的患病率以及与尿失禁严重程度（UISS）相关的因素。
采用横断面设计，从 20 至 60 岁的 598 名社区居住女性中收集数据。通过对在家中发现的参与者进行问卷调查来收集数据。
UI 的患病率为 33.8%，大多数女性对这种疾病持消极态度。例如，大多数女性同意以下观点：尿失禁无法预防或治愈（98%）；患有尿失禁的女性是被诅咒的（97%）；女性不应该告诉任何人这个问题（90%）等。在 202 名有自我报告尿失禁的女性中，大多数报告有中度 UISS（78%），其他女性则将症状评为轻度（22%）。女性首次分娩的年龄（p<.01）与 UISS 呈负相关，而怀孕次数（p<.01）和曾分娩过的最大婴儿体重（p<.01）与 UISS 呈正相关。曾分娩过的最大婴儿体重对预测 UISS 的影响最大。
许多社区居住的女性患有 UI，其比例值得引起重大公共卫生关注。因此，需要开展预防 UI 或症状恶化的公共卫生计划，并应强调健康教育，因为受影响和未受影响的女性普遍存在消极态度。这里报告的预测因素可用于优先为受影响的女性提供护理，并鼓励那些可能不愿透露尿失禁的高危女性尽早采取促进盆底强化的健康行动和行为。
