Urinary incontinence: a difficult problem for women

“There is nothing more distressing than incontinence: the non-stop flow of urine soaking through your clothes, wet and cold against your thighs, chagrined and away from the crowd.” Have you ever experienced this: when you go out on vacation, you often have to search for a toilet; when you are at a friend’s party, you dare not have a good laugh with the same people; you always wear dark-colored clothes and bring a lot of sanitary pads ……. All this is due to inadvertent leakage of urine, incontinence caused by the trouble. At present, according to global statistics, the prevalence of urinary incontinence is close to 50%, and the prevalence of severe incontinence is about 7%. The prevalence rate in China is basically comparable to this. Due to socio-economic and cultural and educational factors, for a long time, the social status of women in China is relatively low, coupled with women’s shyness about urinary anomalies, so women’s health problems are often overlooked, resulting in female incontinence for a long time not for the attention of doctors and patients. Women used to use sanitary napkins to hide their menstruation. Similarly, they initially use sanitary napkins to cover their incontinence. Roughly 30% of tampons are in fact used for female incontinence. This behavior allows women to naturally cover up their incontinence and avoid talking about it with their doctors. A British study showed that more than half of women with severe incontinence delayed treatment because they felt too embarrassed to talk about it with their doctors. And a quarter delayed treatment for up to five years. This was especially true of older women. Overall, less than half of patients with more severe incontinence seek help. Many women experience occasional leakage of urine when coughing and sneezing. Does this mean that urinary incontinence is “normal” among women? Of course not. Urinary incontinence is never normal, but there are different thresholds in different patients. The important question is: how much urine leakage affects daily life? The answer is different for different people. Frequent leakage of urine in daily life is harmful. Imagine a woman with chronic lung disease who wets her pants every time she coughs; a woman who urinates so urgently that she can’t control her urination that she rushes home every time and fumbles for the key to unlock the door in a panic; imagine a woman who loves to dance but always wets her pants after a workout, or an entrepreneur who can’t stop her bladder from contracting during an extended meeting or contract negotiation, some of these scenarios can make a patient’s life more difficult. Imagine a woman who loves to dance but always wets her pants after a workout, or an entrepreneur who can’t stop her bladder from contracting during an extended meeting or contract negotiation. Some of these scenarios can put the patient in a constant state of stress, make her afraid to travel, and require her to carry a large travel bag with lots of sanitary napkins, which she may not always be able to find a suitable place to change; at the same time, the constant leakage of urine can make the perineum constantly wet, and infections can occur frequently, costing a lot of money, and seriously affecting quality of life. Regardless of the amount of urine spilled, it needs to be dealt with promptly.