Effects Of Surgical And Medical Treatments On Stress Urinary Incontinence

Purpose: The aim of this study was to evaluate how surgical and medical treatments affect the quality of life, depression status and social participation of women with Stress Urinary Incontinence (SUI).

Materials and Methods: The study included 32 women with diagnoses of SUI. Among these women, 16 were designated as the medical treatment group (MTG), and the other 16 were designated as the surgical treatment group (STG). Before the treatment and 8 weeks after its completion, the patients were evaluated with the International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire-Short Form (ICIQ-SF), Incontinence Quality of Life Questionnaire (I-QOL), World Health Organization Quality of Life Instrument, Short Form (WHOQOL-BREF), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and Social Participation Questionnaire (SPQ). 

Results: The mean age of the subjects was 54.31±11.48 years in MTG and 48.38±10.01 years in STG. The mean body mass index (BMI) values of the groups were respectively 27.56±2.79 and 26.56±2.25 kg/m2. Following the treatment, statistically significant improvements were observed in urinary incontinence, depression, social participation and overall and disease-specific quality of life in both groups (p<0.05). Comparative analysis of the post-treatment changes in both groups showed statistically significant differences in the BDI score, the total work activity and household activity scores in the Social Participation Questionnaire and the psychosocial subgroups of both WHOQOL-BREF and I-QOL (p<0.05).

Conclusion: Both treatments proved to be effective and usable to reduce the severity of SUI and depression, prevent social isolation and improve the quality of life. However, extensive research is required on the effects of SUI treatment methods on larger patient groups.