An assessment of relationship between urinary incontinence, and quality of life and psychosocial functioning in elderly women from southeastern Poland

• Authors: Agnieszka Beata Ćwirlej-Sozańska , Agnieszka Wiśniowska-Szurlej , Anna Wilmowska-Pietruszyńska , Łukasz Szurlej , Bernard Sozański
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

Introduction The rapid aging of the human population is an increasing challenge to public health. With aging of population, the number of people functionally and cognitively dependent increases. The incidence of lower urinary tract symptoms and urinary incontinence increases, too. Material and methods The study included 1032 randomly selected women aged 60–80 years living in south-eastern Poland (the Podkarpackie region). For comparative analysis, we divided this population into two subgroups: I - women with a problem recognized by the doctor considering urinary incontinence (UI) and II - clinical control group (women without urinary incontinence, WP). The WHODAS 2.0 questionnaire was used to assess the disability and functioning and WHOQOL-bref to assess the quality of life. Results In the studied population of women aged 60-80 years, 14.53% reported urinary incontinence. The global disability level was higher in the UI group in comparison to WP group (0<0.001). The intensity of disability was highest in domains of activities of daily life, mobility and social participation. In comparison to women without urinary incontinence, the UI group women experienced larger effect of their dysfunction on all domains of quality of life, in particular the psychical health, psychological health and environment (p<0.001) Conclusions The study proves that urinary incontinence has a significant effect on lowering the quality of life and psychosocial functioning of elderly women living in south-eastern Poland. The results point to those domains of functioning which require greatest support. These conclusions communicate a significant message for those who develop rehabilitation programmes for elderly patients with urinary incontinence.

Keywords

EN

aged; women; disability evaluation; urinary incontinence; World Health Organization

• Journal: Advances in Rehabilitation
• Year: 2019
• Volume: 33
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 19-26

Dates

published

2019-12-30

Contributors

author

Agnieszka Beata Ćwirlej-Sozańska

author

Agnieszka Wiśniowska-Szurlej

author

Anna Wilmowska-Pietruszyńska

author

Łukasz Szurlej

author

Bernard Sozański

Identifiers

DOI

10.5114/areh.2019.89823