Quality of life, disease recognition and care-seeking intention in women with urinary incontinence: an observational study in China

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the quality of life, awareness of UI, and influential factors of care-seeking intention of women with urinary incontinence in China. Methods: From April 2013 to November 2013, subjects were selected from four cities in Anhui province, China. They participated in this survey by completing a detailed verbal questionnaire regarding their demographic data, medical history, and the International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire for Urinary Incontinence-Short Form questionnaire (ICIQ-UI-SF) and incontinence quality of life (I-QOL) questionnaire. Results: 1,653 women were recruited in this study, and 60.48% of the women with UI did not seek medical advice, and the major reasons for women without care-seeking intention were assuming UI as a normal phenomenon (58.0%) and embarrassment (27.33%). Positive factors for promoting care-seeking among patients with UI included the in-depth disease recognition, urge UI (UUI), mixed UI (MUI), and higher educational level. Conclusions: QOL in women with SUI was better than those with UUI and MUI. Almost half of the patients had limited knowledge about UI. The influential factors regarding to care-seeking intention among patients with UI was associated with disease recognition, embarrassment, assuming UI as a normal phenomenon, the type of UI, and educational level.