Severe stress urinary incontinence: Objective analysis of risk factors

To assess differences between patients suffering from severe degree of stress urinary incontinence versus those with mild degree and to detect the risk factors of severity.

118 patients suffered from pure SUI were enrolled in a prospective study. According to VLPP, patients were categorized into 2 groups: mild (VLPP>60) and severe (VLPP<60). Risk factors included age, parity, gravidity, menopausal status, co-morbidities and surgical history were investigated.

35 patients had severe SUI; their mean VLPP±SD was 47±8cm H2O, while in 83 patients with mild SUI, mean VLPP was 90±20cm H2O. No significant difference was detected between both groups concerning clinical parameters except for the presence of bronchial asthma in which the difference was approaching statistical significance (P=0.07). Patients with multiple deliveries have triple risk to develop severe SUI. Obese patients with BMI>30 and those with bronchial asthma are more prone to develop severe type (OR: 1.9, 95%CI: .07-5 and OR: 9.4, 95% CI: 0.7-25 respectively).

Bronchial asthma, obesity and multiple parities might be associated with low VLPP. Severe SUI is a resultant of multi-factors rather than one risk factor.