Epidemiology of infrequent voiding and associated symptoms

In an attempt to study the epidemiology of infrequent voiding and its associated symptoms, 1613 women aged 20-25, 30-35 or 40-45 years randomly selected among the ordinary female population in Northern Jutland in Denmark were sent a questionnaire. It was to be answered anonymously. The women were asked about voiding frequency, frequency of nocturnal voidings, urinary infections, problems in initiating voiding and urinary leaking symptoms. The response rate was 65.0%. Overall, 7.7% of the women in the 3 groups had a voiding frequency of 3 or less per day. We found that women aged 20-25 had a higher rate of this low voiding frequency than women in the two older groups, (p < 0.001). Women aged 40-45 had a higher rate of urinary leaking symptoms than the two younger groups, (p < 0.02). In all 3 groups, women who voided 3 times or less per day had significantly more urinary infections than those with 4 or more voidings per day, (p < 0.01). The investigation has given some impression of the frequency of the infrequent voiding and the frequency of its associated symptoms.