Depressive symptoms and treatment of women with urgency urinary incontinence

Depression is more common in patients with urinary incontinence (UI). Drug or rehabilitation therapy have been shown to be effective in reducing urgency UI (UUI) symptoms, but whether these treatments can ameliorate the negative impact of UUI on the psychological aspects of quality of life is unclear.

A secondary analysis of an assessor-blinded randomized controlled trial was performed. The number of depressive symptoms was the primary outcome as measured by the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression scale (CES-D).

Thirty-six (22%) subjects had a CES-D score >16 at baseline, the cutoff for having depressive symptoms. A significant association was found between having a CES-D score >16 and lower quality of life related to UI at baseline. The mean CES-D score among those with depressive symptoms at baseline was significantly reduced throughout the study, with a mean of 23.7 at baseline, to 18.3 and 15.2 at the 3-month and 1-year follow-up (p < 0.001), respectively. The number of participants who had depressive symptoms decreased during the study period only in the physical therapy groups, from 31 at baseline to 28 and 25, at 3 and 12 months, respectively, while there was no such change in the drug group.

Patients with UUI who had depressive symptoms showed significant improvement in their depressive symptoms with treatment over 1 year. This improvement occurred regardless of the type of treatment. This study emphasizes the increasingly recognized problem of undiagnosed depression among middle-aged women with UUI.