Women with urinary incontinence suffer poorer mental health: Study

A recent study has found that women with urinary incontinence report higher rates of depression and lower levels of self-worth.

The research was presented recently at the European Association of Urology Congress, EAU21.

The team behind the study has appealed to clinicians to ask women with incontinence about their mental health and to offer potential treatments.

Female urinary incontinence is a common disorder, particularly among older women, but there has been very little research into its impact on women's mental health.

Margarida Manso and colleagues at the University Hospital Centre of Sao Joao drew on data from a population-based survey run by the Portuguese Health Ministry every five years, which asks respondents about various aspects of health and wellbeing.

They analysed the responses of around 10,000 women aged 18 or above, comparing the prevalence of depression diagnosis, use of mental health consultations, dimensions of mental health disease, and addictive behaviours -- smoking and alcohol consumption -- between women who did and did not report urinary incontinence.