Quality of life assessment for patients with urinary incontinence

In order to improve the quality of medical care, an assessment of patients' quality of life (QOL) has been recognized to be important as well as an assessment of physical impairment. Since diseases affect a wide range of QOL facets, including physical, emotional, and social conditions, disease severity and treatment efficacy should not be assessed only by clinical parameters. Urinary incontinence has a strong influence on patients' QOL. Health-related QOL is a multidisciplinary and subjective construct that refers to an individual's perception of his/her state of health or disease. The treatment of urinary incontinence should be selected based on questionnaires. Since 1987, various questionnaires for QOL assessment in patients with urinary incontinence have been developed. During the meeting of the International Consultation on Incontinence (ICI), held in 1998, 2001, and 2004, various QOL questionnaires for urinary incontinence were assessed and ranked based on scientific verifications. This paper describes the influence of urinary incontinence on QOL and the measurement of QOL in patients with several urinary problems.