Impact of age on preoperative and postoperative urinary incontinence quality of life

Objective The objective of the study was to estimate the effect of age on quality of life in women with urinary incontinence before and following antiincontinence surgery. Study Design We performed a retrospective cohort study of women who underwent surgery for stress urinary incontinence from December 2003 to August 2005. Younger women were defined as age younger than 60 years and older women were defined as age 60 years or older. Quality of life was measured using Incontinence Impact Questionnaire (IIQ)-7 and Urogenital Distress Inventory (UDI)-6 questionnaires pre- and postoperatively. Multiple linear regression was performed to estimate the effect of age on improvement in quality-of-life scores. Results One hundred sixty-eight younger women and 81 older women were included. Older women had lower mean baseline IIQ-7 scores ( P < .01) and had less improvement in IIQ-7 scores postoperatively ( P = .02) when compared with younger women. After adjusting for baseline IIQ-7 score using multiple linear regression, age was no longer associated with decreasing improvements in quality-of-life scores following surgical treatment. Conclusions Antiincontinence surgery is associated with improved quality of life in both older and younger women.