Social adjustment and spouse relationships among women with stress incontinence before and after surgical treatment

Forty-five women with stress urinary incontinence (SUI) and their partners have been interviewed three months before and one year after surgical treatment to investigate the social consequences of their impairment. One year after surgery 76% of the women reported that they were cured (group A, n=34) and 24% that they were improved (group B, n=11). The cured women were significantly younger than the improved women. The duration of urinary leakage before the operation was significantly shorter in group A than in group B. One year post surgery group A reported a significantly decrease in impediments to exert certain tasks due to urine leakage. As concerns leisure time, group A reported a higher level of overall activities before surgery than group B, whereas postsurgery both groups obtained about the same level of activities. Regarding social support, no differences between the groups occurred as concerns attachment. Furthermore, group A women showed a significantly higher degree of adequacy of social integration compared with group B. The majority of the couples could openly discuss sexual matters with their partners and were satisfied with their sexual life. More than half of the interviewed men reported an increase in sexual desire one year after their partners operation. Whereas about every third woman in both groups reported an increase in sexual desire. However, the frequency of intercourse did not change in any groups. In conclusion, this study underlines the importance of social factors in the assessment of the consequences of stress urinary incontinence and its treatment.