Urinary Incontinence Prevalence and Its Related Factors in Pregnant Women

Background & objective:  Pregnancy is a known risk factor for urinary incontinence (UI) due to physiological and anatomical changes, especially in the third trimester of pregnancy. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of UI in the third trimester of pregnancy and its related factors in pregnant women. Materials & Methods:  This cross-sectional study was conducted on 330 pregnant women in the third trimester of pregnancy, referred to the perinatal care clinic of Yas Hospital in 2016-2017. The sampling method was convenience sampling. Then, the prevalence of UI and its related factors were investigated in these participants. Results:  The mean age of the subjects was 30±5 years old. Totally, 98 pregnant women (29.7%) had UI. The rate of urine leakage was mild at 26.4% and moderate or severe at 3.3%. The time of urine leakage in 6.4% of women with UI was before reaching the toilet, 1.2% was permanent, 19.4% was related to cough and sneezing, and 2.7% of women did not indicate a specific time. In evaluating the relationship between each of the variables and UI, three factors were identified to be completely related to UI, i.e., morbid obesity (P=0.038), gestational age between 32 to 37 weeks (P=0.012), and age ≥ 35 years old (P=0.009). Conclusion:  It seems that one-third of pregnant women in the third trimester of pregnancy have UI, which is a multifactorial issue and therefore requires multidisciplinary programs to prevent it.

Keywords:

Prevalence , Urinary incontinence , Pregnancy