Examining Prevalence Of Urinary Incontinence And Risk Factors In Women In Third Postpartum Month

Are pregnancy and birth-related parameters important risk factors in the development of urinary incontinence (UI)? The aim of this study is to examine the prevalence of UI and associated risk factors in Turkish women in the third postpartum month. Incontinence after childbirth is a common problem. A cross-sectional study that included 370 women in third postpartum month in Canakkale is presented in this paper. Wagner's quality of life scale questionnaire exploring the risk factors for UI was used as the principle data collection tool. All women gave consent prior to inclusion in the study. Chi-square, t test, Mann-Whitney U test and Binary logistic regression were used for comparison. The prevalence of self-reported postpartum UI was 35.9%. In this study; age, educational level, parity, number of normal birth, nocturia and constipation were determined to be the associated risk factors for postpartum UI in univariate analysis. When examining these risk factors by using logistic regression, it was found that the number of birth being 2 increased UI 2.7 times (P=0.002, 95% CI:1.434-5.324), the number of birth being 3 or more increased UI 20.3 times (P=0.001, 95% CI:7.130-58.332) and nocturia being 3 times and more increased UI 2.6 times (P=0.041, 95% CI:1.042-6.790). Pregnancy and birth-related parameters are important risk factors in development of UI. It would be useful to increase the awareness in women in pregnancy and the postpartum period, by providing health training and consultancy services about UI protection and the reduction of risk factors.