Four thousand four hundred women were examined under the gynecological health control program in Malmö municipality during a period of 11 months. Nine hundred and forty-four (21 per cent) reported that they were troubled by disorders of the urinary tract. These women were given copies of a separate questionnaire, which was subsequently properly answered by 512 women. Of these, 321 (62.7 per cent) indicated urinary incontinence. From the questionnaire alone, it was difficult to characterize the different types of urinary incontinence in the patients. Thus only 42 women (8.2 per cent) seemed to suffer from genuine stress incontinence and 34 women (6.6 per cent) from genuine urge incontinence, whereas 245 (47.9 per cent) had to be characterized as "mixed incontinence". Hence, it is obvious that in several patients suffering from urinary incontinence, written or combined written and oral interviews to not produce a clear-cut diagnosis and that the etiology and treatment of incontinence in these patients may be uncertain. It is concluded that interviews with most patients suffering from urinary incontinence must be supplemented by objective recordings before a definitive diagnosis and treatment can be prescribed.

A retrospective follow-up investigation dealing with the frequency of stress incontinence was carried out among maternities at the Women's Clinic in Lund over a period of 15 months. Of 1400 newly-delivered women whose interviews were solicited, 1411 responded. Twenty-two percent indicated symptoms of stress incontinence. These were examined gynecologically, including Bonney's test. The material may be divided into four groups according to the onset and type of stress incontinence:--Onset of stress incontinence prior to pregnancy in connection with puberty: 8.5% of the total number of stress incontinents (2% of th entire material). -- Permanent stress incontinence with onset during pregnancy; 23% of all stress incontinents (5% of the entire material). --Temporary, mild, "physiological" stress incontinence, manifest only during the second part of the pregnancy and disappearing approximately 3 months after delivery. This type of incontinence represents 50% of all stress incontinence (11% of the entire material). --Stress incontinence arising in conjunction with or following parturition; 19% of all cases of stress incontinence (4% of the entire material). Of the patients in this group 8% were temporarily incontinent. Eleven percent (2.3% of the entire material), represents women suffering from constant incontinence which first appeared in connection with childbirth. It is more often the case that stress incontinence begins during the first pregnancy rather than during subsequent pregnancies (statistical significance P less than or equal to 0.05). The results indicate that the pregnancy itself and hereditary factors predispose more readily than the parturition trauma to the occurrence of stress incontinence.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract