Prevalence of urinary incontinence and other urological problems during pregnancy: a questionnaire based study

Objective  To find out the prevalence of various urological symptoms in pregnant women, the status before pregnancy, and their perceived impact. Methods  A questionnaire incorporating various urological problems was prepared and used over 240 pregnant women to know their prevalence in different trimesters of pregnancy and compare them with prevalence before pregnancy. Results  Increased urinary frequency (>10/day) (40.8 vs. 3.8%), nocturia (72.9 vs. 50.6%), burning micturition (21.3 vs. 3.8%), UTI (4.6 vs. 1.6%), urinary hesitancy (14.6 vs. 1.6%), urinary incontinence (25.8 vs. 8.2%) and botheration (22.1 vs. 2.7%) were seen during and before pregnancy, respectively. These also show an increment with advancement of gestation. Urinary incontinence was seen more often with advancing age and parity. Conclusion  There is a very high prevalence of urological symptoms during pregnancy as compared to before pregnancy.