Female urinary incontinence and sexuality

Abstract

Urinary incontinence is a common problem among women and it is estimated thatbetween 15 and 55% of them complain of lower urinary symptoms. The most prevalentform of urinary incontinence is associated with stress, followed by mixed urinaryincontinence and urge urinary incontinence. It is a symptom with several effects onquality of life of women mainly in their social, familiar and sexual domains. Femalereproductive and urinary systems share anatomical structures, which promotes thaturinary problems interfere with sexual function in females. This article is a review of both the concepts of female urinary incontinence and its impacton global and sexual quality of life. Nowadays, it is assumed that urinary incontinence, especially urge urinary incontinence, promotes anxiety and several self-esteemdamages in women. The odour and the fear of incontinence during sexual intercourseaffect female sexual function and this is related with the unpredictability and the chronicityof incontinence, namely urge urinary incontinence. Female urinary incontinence management involves conservative (pelvic floor muscletraining), surgical and pharmacological treatment. Both conservative and surgicaltreatments have been studied about its benefit in urinary incontinence and also the impactamong female sexual function. Unfortunately, there are sparse articles that evaluatethe benefits of female sexual function with drug management of incontinence.