Racial comparisons and contrasts in urinary incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse

To compare black and white women with regard to urinary incontinence and prolapse.

Two hundred consecutive women referred for evaluation of urinary incontinence or severe prolapse, 54 of whom were black, were evaluated. Each had a comprehensive standardized evaluation. Qualitative and quantitative data were analyzed for significant differences between the groups.

The symptoms of pure stress, pure urge, and mixed incontinence were described by 7, 56, and 37% of black subjects, respectively, compared to 31, 28, and 41% of white subjects (P = .001). The conditions of pure genuine stress incontinence (GSI), pure motor incontinence, and mixed incontinence were diagnosed in 27, 56, and 17% of black subjects, respectively, compared to 61, 28, and 11% of whites (P = .0008). Black women with mixed symptoms were significantly less likely than white women to have pure GSI (47 versus 74%; P = .05). Blacks with GSI were significantly heavier, had higher parity, more often took a diuretic, were more often diabetic, and had better passive urethral closure pressure but greater urethral axis mobility than whites. Blacks with motor incontinence were significantly younger, heavier, less likely to have had prior continence surgery or hysterectomy, and had better passive urethral closure pressure but smaller bladder capacities than whites. The prevalence of severe prolapse in this referral population was the same for blacks and whites (24 and 23%), although blacks had significantly more vaginal deliveries. No other significant racial differences were noted in the prolapse group.

Black women with urinary incontinence have a different distribution of symptoms, different conditions causing their incontinence, and different risk profiles for these conditions than do whites. The significantly lower prevalence of pure GSI in black women compared to white women makes the clinical evaluation for GSI appreciably less accurate in the individual black patient. Until further epidemiologic information regarding incontinence in black women is available, such women should be considered candidates for more accurate, sophisticated urodynamic testing before continence surgery.