[Female stress urinary incontinence during pregnancy. A bibliographical review]

The authors have prepared a brief bibliographical review on female stress urinary incontinence during pregnancy. The high degree of incidence this disorder has and the introduction of the latest sanitary techniques combine to make necessary a profound review which aids medical professionals to realize the magnitude of this problem, as well as to diagnose and treat it effectively. Female stress urinary incontinence during pregnancy is an involuntary urine loss associated to the physical effort which an increase in abdominal pressure provokes. A literary review of articles related to this disorder leaves no doubt that among the risk factors which make a woman be predisposed to suffer female stress urinary incontinence, obstetric trauma as a consequence of pregnancy and birth is a main risk factor. The authors describe a couple of diagnostic tools, a ICIQ-SF questionnaire, and therapeutic tools, the pelvic floor muscle exercise program, whose effectiveness has been sufficiently demonstrated and may prove to have very beneficial clinical uses which can be applied in a nurse's office.