Impact of stress urinary incontinence and overactive bladder on quality of life in thai women attending the urogynecology clinic

Objective: To investigate the impact of stress urinary incontinence (SUI) and overactive bladder (OAB) on the quality of life (QOL) using disease specific health-related QOL questionnaire. Material and Method: Three hundred and nineteen women with SUI and/or OAB, attending the urogynecolgy clinic, Ramathibodi Hospital were recruited in the present study. Information on QOL was collected, using the Thai version of modified incontinence-specific quality of life questionnaire (I-QOL) and short form incontinence impact questionnaire (IIQ-7). Results: In 319 cases, the diagnosis of SUI, OAB, and both were 55 cases, 78 cases, and 186 cases, respectively. There was no statistically significant difference in patients' characteristics in three groups. The patients with both SUI and OAB showed significantly lower scores in all domains of I-QOL than the SUI and OAB groups, whereas QOL, assessed by IIQ-7, showed significant impairment in the combined SUI and OAB group, only in the emotional health domain. Conclusion: Stress urinary incontinence and overactive bladder have a detrimental impact on patient healthrelated QOL. Women with a combination of SUI and OAB have the greatest impairment in QOL.