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Severity of urinary incontinence is associated with prevalence of sexual dysfunction

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Abstract

Introduction and hypothesis

Urinary incontinence (UI) affects overall health-related and sexual quality of life (QoL) in women. There is no consensus on the impact of severity and type of UI on the prevalence of sexual dysfunction (DS). The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between types and severity of UI and DS.

Methods

A cross-sectional study of women with UI. Inclusion criteria: women complaining of UI and > 18 years old. Women with a history of previous treatment for UI, recurrent urinary tract infections, renal lithiasis, previous radiation therapy or pelvic organ prolapse above stage 2 in the Pelvic Organ Prolapse Quantification (POP-Q) system were excluded. Clinical and epidemiological data were collected, and the following questionnaires were applied: ICIQ-SF, ICIQ-OAB, King’s Health Questionnaire (KHQ) and Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI).

Results

Concerning the type of UI, the majority of women had MUI (69.1%) and 56.8% reported having coital UI. The mean score was 20.81 ± 8.45 in the FSFI questionnaire. There was a prevalence of SD in 71.6% of women, with no difference in types of UI (p = 0.753) and loss during sexual intercourse (p = 0.217). There was a correlation between severity of UI (ICIQ-SF) and arousal (r = −0.26; p = 0.008), lubrication (r = −0.25; p = 0.009), orgasm (r = −0.25; p = 0.009), pain (r = −0.26; p = 0.007) and total (r = −0.28; p = 0.004) domain scores.

Conclusions

There is a high prevalence of SD in women with urinary incontinence, irrespective of the type of UI and urine leakage during sexual intercourse. However, the greater the severity of UI is, the worse the sexuality questionnaire scores.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Campinas (UNICAMP), School of Medicine, Campinas, Brazil

    Tiago Augusto Gomes, Marcelo de Arruda Faber, Bruno Botta, Luiz Gustavo Oliveira Brito & Cássia Raquel Teatin Juliato

  2. Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Rua Alexander Fleming, 101, Cidade Universitária Zeferino Vaz, Campinas, São Paulo, 13083-881, Brazil

    Tiago Augusto Gomes

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  1. Tiago Augusto Gomes
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  2. Marcelo de Arruda Faber
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Correspondence to Tiago Augusto Gomes.

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Gomes, T.A., Faber, M.d.A., Botta, B. et al. Severity of urinary incontinence is associated with prevalence of sexual dysfunction. Int Urogynecol J 31, 1669–1674 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00192-019-04092-8

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