Lower urinary tract symptoms three years after delivery: a prospective study

Purpose: to evaluate the frequency of lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS), three years after delivery in women previously interviewed at the third gestation trimester, and to compare the gestation and delivery impact on LUTS, analyzing the social and hygienic discomfort associated with micturition complaints. METHODS: analytical prospective study. In 2003, 340 pregnant women were selected in the pre-natal outpatient unit, and asked to answer a pre-tested questionnaire about LUTS and obstetric data. Three years after delivery, it was possible to get in touch by telephone with 120 of the 340 women who had been interviewed in the first study. They answered a second questionnaire about obstetric data, LUTS and its social impact. LUTS have been divided into stress urinary incontinence (SUI) and irritative urinary symptoms (IUS). McNemar's and chi-square tests were used for statistical analysis (p<0.05). Results: SUI and nocturia have occurred in 57.5 and 80% of the pregnant women and the appearance of those symptoms after delivery, in 13.7 and 16.7%, respectively. Urge urinary incontinence has been significantly more frequent after delivery (30.5%) than in gestation (20.8%). Only 35.6% of the women with IUS presented social discomfort, but this rate has gone up to 91.4% in women with IUS associated with SUI. Conclusions: gestation, more than delivery, was associated with the appearance of SUI and nocturia, while the urge urinary incontinence was significantly higher after delivery. Most of the women have mentioned that SUI causes social problems.