Paper
Thursday, 20 July 2006
This presentation is part of : Initiatives for Adult Women's Health Issues
Risk Factors of Urinary Incontinence and its Impacts on Quality of Life Among Hong Kong Chinese Women
Alice Yuen Loke, PhD, School of Nursing, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, Hong Kong and Lai-ping Chiu, RN, MSc, ourology unit, tuen Mun Hospital, Tuen Mun, Hong Kong.
Learning Objective #1: identify the risk factors of Uninary Incontinence of Hong Kong Chinese women and the impacts on their quality of life.
Learning Objective #2: examine the patterns of health care seeking behaviours and reasons associated with delay in health seeking among women suffered from urinary incontinence.
Aim: This is a study to determine the risk factors of UI of Hong Kong Chinese women and the impacts on quality of life. The patterns of health care seeking behaviours and reasons associated with these women’s delay in health seeking will also be explored.
Methods: This is a case-control study. The cases are women with confirmed urinary incontinence, and the controls were women recruited from the community. The community group is further divided into the symptomatic and continent groups. A self-administered questionnaire was used to assess the possible risks, the severity of symptoms, the Quality of life, and health seeking behaviours of women with urinary incontinence.
Results: A total of 216 women aged 36-60 were recruited from May to August 2005 in the study. There are 91 cases and 125 women from the community (79 symptomatic and 46 continent women).
The study results showed that age (46-55), high waist to hip ratio (>0.81), habitual constipation, frequent urinary tract infection, mother with history of UI, parity (≥2) and vaginal delivery (≥2 times) were significant risk factors of urinary incontinence. Women with urinary incontinence had lower quality of life score than the symptomatic women and the continence women (mean score 87.2, 106.0, and 114.7 respectively, p<0.05).

The study results also showed that 31 (34.1%) women in the case group who delayed help seeking for as long as 1 to 5 years, and 22 (24.2%) for over five years. Women 55 (60.5%) in the cases group claimed that the symptom was not severe enough for them to seek help immediately. Conclusion: Women in Hong Kong are suffering from UI without seeking medical care for their urinary problems. Health care professionals should provide health education and professional advice to women in the community on urinary incontinence.

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See more of The 17th International Nursing Research Congress Focusing on Evidence-Based Practice (19-22 July 2006)