Determining lower urinary tract symptoms and associated risk factors in young women

To determine lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) and associated risk factors in women aged 20 years and older.

The present population-based, randomized, cross-sectional study recruited 766 women aged 20 years and older from the province of Malatya, Turkey. Data on LUTS were collected via face-to-face interviews between December 1, 2006, and July 30, 2007. The data were reported descriptively and analyzed by logistic regression for associated risk factors.

Regarding female LUTS, the incidence of urgency, urinary incontinence, nocturia, and frequency symptoms was 36.1%, 32.4%, 27.1%, and 22.8%, respectively. Logistic regression indicated that LUTS development was 6.1 times higher among women who had vaginal delivery than among those who had cesarean delivery; 3.7 times higher among women with gas incontinence than among those without; 2.9 times higher among women with frequent urinary tract infections that among those without; and 4.8 times higher among women whose mothers had a history of urine incontinence than among those whose mothers did not.

Vaginal delivery was found to be the highest risk factor for LUTS among women.