Pregnant women are susceptible to lower urinary tract symptoms(LUTS). Their bladder does not store or pass urine efficiently. Consequently, women have social, emotional, and physical problems. Their quality of life(QoL) comes down due to frequent, dribbling, or night-time urination. This study aims to assess the impact of non-pathological LUTS on pregnant Palestinian women’s QoL.
The hospital-based study was designed with 306 pregnant women. They had access to regular antenatal care at an OB-GYN clinic. They replied to a questionnaire with the Urinary Distress Inventory(UDI-6) and the European Quality of Life – visual analog scale (EQ-VAS). The study used techniques like the convenience sampling method and multiple linear regression analyses. It identified socio-demographic variables, UDI-6 score, and IIQ-7 scores. These variables had a significant association with women’s QoL.
The UDI-6 scale and IIQ-7 scale averages were 31.2 ± 19.2 and 31.9 ± 24.9 out of 100 points. At the same time, average EQ-VAS and EQ-5D scores were 67.96 ± 19.28, and0.76 ± 0.17, respectively. The UDI-6 responses significantly correlated with responses on both the EQ-5D and EQ-VAS scales. And the IIQ-7 responses also significantly correlated with EQ-5D and EQ-VAS responses. Regression analysis showed a significant, negative association of EQ-5D index scores with UDI-6 and IIQ-7 scores.
The study remarkably correlated QoL during pregnancy and LUTS. Further studies are needed to highlight the status, intervention, and impact of LUTS on QoL.
Ref: https://bmcurol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12894-020-00761-9
