Sexual dysfunctions in women with urinary incontinence

Pastor, Z^{(1, 2)}; Horčička, L^{(1, 2)}; Chmel, R⁽²⁾

⁽¹⁾Private Sexological Center, Prague , Czech Republic ⁽²⁾Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Charles University Prague, 2nd Medical Faculty, Teaching Hospital Motol, Prague, Czech Republic

Objective: To evaluate the quality of sexual life in women with urinary incontinence. The urge and stress urinary incontinence were compared in regard to sexual functions.
Material and Methods: A group of 112 sexually active women suffering from the symptoms of urinary incontinence aged 25 to 55 years was studied. All women underwent urodynamic examination, filled out a special questionnaire and were interviewed and examinated by sexuologist. Changes in sexual activity resulting from the urinary incontinence, rate of the symptoms of incontinence during the sexual intercourse and the benefit of therapy were evaluated.
Results: 45 (40.2 %) evaluated patients never noted any sexual dysfunction associated with the urinary incontinence and 67 (59.8 %) women with urinary incontinence had urinary leakage during the sexual intercourse occasionally, out of which 46 patients had urinary leakage in the beginning or during the sexual intercourse and 21 patients were incontinent during orgasm. Stress urinary incontinence was not associated with statistically significant higher rate of urinary leakage due to the anatomic abnormalities during the penis insertion and urge urinary incontinence was not associated with the urinary incontinence during orgasm resulting from higher activity of detrusor muscle.
Conclusions: More than 50 % of sexually active women suffering from urinary incontinence have sexual dysfunction associated with their underlying condition occasionally. There are no urodynamic findings that would clearly indicate the probability of occurrence of the characteristic symptoms of urinary incontinence during the sexual intercourse. Antiincontinent therapy has only a small impact on sexual dysfunctions decrease in a group of women with urinary incontinence.