Prevalence and outcome of surgery for female incontinence.

A 4.7 percent surgery rate to correct urine loss conditions was found by a large scale survey of sixty-year and older non-institutionalized women in a Michigan county. The initial postoperative results reported by the respondents were 74 percent complete continence and 23 percent partial relief. The long-term self-reported outcomes (two years or more post-surgery) were an absolute continence rate of 39 percent and 17 percent with mild incontinence (the median time since surgery was 12 years), whereas the short term (4-23 months, mean 7.1 months) absolute continence rate was 71 percent. The characteristics of the incontinence respondent who had previous surgery showed 70 percent having mixed stress-urge type of incontinence and 66 percent losing urine almost weekly or daily. Bladder emptying symptoms were reported by 30.4 percent of the continent previously-operated respondents compared with 13.0 percent of the incontinent previously-operated respondents. All continent respondents and 84 percent of the incontinent respondents believed that physicians can help people with a urine loss condition.