Help-seeking behaviour and associated factors among women with urinary incontinence in France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom.

Abstract

To assess the proportion of women who consult their doctor about urinary incontinence (UI), and explore factors associated with help-seeking in France, Germany, Spain and the UK. A representative sample of 29,500 women received a 13 item postal questionnaire to identify those with UI. A randomly selected sub-sample of 2953 women with UI received a more detailed follow-up questionnaire. There was a response rate of 58% in the initial survey and 53% in the second. Thirty-one percent of all women had consulted a doctor about their UI symptoms with more women consulting in France and Germany than in the UK and Spain. A number of factors relating to general health care, UI and women's attitudes were found to be associated with help-seeking after adjusting for women's age, UI duration and frequency, and 'bothersomeness' of UI; factors traditionally associated with help-seeking. After adjusting for these factors, willingness to take long-term medication and having spoken to others about UI were found to be strong predictors of help-seeking in all four countries.