Diagnosis of lower urinary tract disorders in postmenopausal patients.

One hundred patients over age 60 who had lower urinary tract symptoms were evaluated in detail. The five primary diagnoses were urethral syndrome (29%), genuine stress incontinence (21%), unstable bladder (19%), hypoestrogenism (7%), and pelvic relaxation (6%). Among patients with genuine stress incontinence, 95.2% had the symptom of stress incontinence. Of 43 patients with the symptom of stress incontinence, 67.4% had the diagnosis of genuine stress incontinence confirmed on urodynamic testing. Of the patients with an unstable bladder, 88.9% had urgency and/or urge incontinence; but of 40 patients with both of these symptoms, only 40% had the diagnosis of unstable bladder. Sixty-two patients who complained of urinary incontinence had the following primary diagnoses: genuine stress incontinence (36%), unstable bladder (29%), urethral syndrome (21%), and pelvic relaxation (5%). Because of the impossibility of clinically correlating symptom with diagnosis in the individual patient, extensive evaluation of postmenopausal patients to determine the etiology of incontinence is advised prior to surgical intervention.