Prevalence of Urinary Incontinence during the Late Third Trimester and Three Months Postpartum Period in King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital
Somchai Tanawattanacharoen MD*, Sawitree Thongtawee MD*
Affiliation : * Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Thailand
Objective : To assess prevalence of Urinary Incontinence (UI) during the late third trimester and three months postpartum
period in King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital.
Material and Method: The present study population comprised ≥36 weeks singleton pregnant women attending the ANC
at King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital between 2009 and 2010. Questionnaire was developed from International
Continence Society Questionnaire, which consisted of two parts, (1) socioeconomic demographic, characteristics related
to UI, and (2) obstetric characteristic, UI experienced after delivery. Validity and reliability of the questionnaire were tested
(Cronbach’s alpha = 0.8). Chi-square, t-test, Pearson correlation McNemar test, and Binary logistic regression were used
for comparison.
Results : The majority of the participants (93.8%) were aged between 20 and 39 years old. The prevalence of UI during
late pregnancy and three months postpartum were 53.8% and 7.8%, respectively. This difference reached statistical
significance (p<0.001). There were 53.5% of stress UI, 20% of urge incontinence, and 7.8% of mixed type UI during late
third trimester, whereas only stress UI was found in three months postpartum period. The only risk factor for late antenatal
and early postpartum UI was high pre-pregnancy BMI (OR 2.3; 95% CI 1.38-3.85, p<0.001 and OR 3.3; 95% CI 1.8-6.0,
p<0.001, respectively).
Conclusion : The prevalence of UI was quite high during the late third trimester (53.8%) and decreased significantly three
months postpartum (7.8%). Pre-pregnancy BMI is the only risk factor for developing UI in late antenatal and early postpartum
period. This may help obstetricians for prediction and prevention of UI during pregnancy and postpartum in high-risk
group.
Keywords : Prevalence, Urinary Incontinence, Third trimester, Postpartum, Risk factor
