Prevalence, Incidence and Obstetric Factors' Impact on Female Urinary Incontinence in Europe: A Systematic Review.

Objectives: A systematic review of the published data on theprevalence, incidence and risk factors of female urinary incontinence(UI) and obstetric treatment of UI in Europe. DataSources: Epidemiologic studies were sought via PubMed toidentify articles published in English, French, Spanish, Germanand Italian between 2000 and September 30, 2010, inEurope. Results: The prevalence of UI ranged from 14.1 to68.8% and increased with increasing age. Significant risk factorsfor UI in pregnancy were maternal age 6 35 years andinitial body mass index, a family history of UI and parity. UIin women who delivered ‘at term’ ranged from 26 to 40.2%,with a remission rate of 3 months after childbirth of up to86.4%. Pelvic floor muscle training may help to prevent postpartumUI in primiparous women without UI during pregnancy.Conclusion: UI definition, outcome measures, surveymethods and validation criteria are still heterogeneous, andthus it is difficult to compare data and impossible to drawdefinite conclusions.