Urinary incontinence after perineal trauma at childbirth.

Stress urinary incontinence is the most common form of female incontinence. The purpose with this study was to describe consequences of episiotomy and spontaneous tears on urinary incontinence after the delivery. A postal questionnaire was sent to 205 women who had participated in an earlier study concerning episiotomy and spontaneous tears during delivery. They were contacted four years post-partum. One hundred and eighty-five women (90%) responded and there was no difference in the response rate between the group with episiotomy and in the group with spontaneous tears. Urinary incontinence symptoms were found in 65 women (36%). This frequency was similar in both groups. The study does not confirm the protective value of episiotomy on urinary incontinence.