Abstract
PURPOSE: To determine the prevalence of urinary incontinence (UI) in patients undergoing prostatectomy and to evaluate the impact of UI on the everyday life in order to select the patients eligible to enter a pelvic floor rehabilitation program.
SUBJECTS AND SETTINGS: The sample comprised 114 consecutive men undergoing laparoscopic or open radical prostatectomy between April 2007 and April 2008. Participants' mean age was 59 years (range, 46-67 years). The research setting was a hospital-based clinic in Barcelona, Spain. Patients who required an indwelling urinary catheter due to other factors were excluded from the trial. During admission, nursing staff explained the study and obtained informed consent from patients willing to participate in the trial.
METHODS: The impact of UI on daily living was evaluated via administration of the International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire-Short Form. Impact of UI was evaluated before surgery, and after 1 and 12 months following indwelling catheter removal.
RESULTS: A total of 95.5% patients developed UI 1 month following bladder catheter removal. Slightly less than 1 in 4 patients (24.8%) indicated that UI had no effect on activities of daily living. In contrast, 27.5% indicated that UI had a moderate impact and 47.7% indicated a severe impact. Ninety-one patients reported performing pelvic floor muscle exercises to improve UI, but only 45% were found to be performing them correctly. When evaluated at 1 year following catheter removal, 52.64% of the patients continued to experience UI. The majority (79.8%) indicated that UI did not impact their daily lives, 8.8% indicated a moderate impact, and 20.4% reported that UI had a severe impact on daily life. Seventy patients (61.4%) continued to perform pelvic floor muscle exercises; after 1 year, 93% were deemed to be correctly identifying, contracting, and relaxing their pelvic floor muscles.
CONCLUSIONS: Urinary incontinence remains prevalent as long as 12 months following catheter removal. Incontinence exerts a moderate to severe impact on daily life in 27.5% to 20.4% of respondents. In order to minimize the negative impact as much as possible, we advocate a pelvic floor muscle training program overseen by RNs.