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Prevalence of Urinary Incontinence Symptoms Among Black, White, and Hispanic Women

From the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Department of Surgery, East Carolina University Brody School of Medicine, Greenville, North Carolina.

Address reprint requests to: Eddie H. M. Sze, MD, Yale University School of Medicine, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 333 Cedar Street, P.O. Box 208063, New Haven, CT 06520; E-mail: eddie.sze{at}yale.edu.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the prevalence of urinary incontinence symptoms among black, white, and Hispanic women.

METHODS: Women attending our gynecologic clinic were asked to complete a survey. The survey asked: "Do you lose urine when you cough, sneeze, lift, jump, or get up from a bed or chair? Do you wear a pad or protective undergarment because you lose urine when you cough, sneeze, lift, jump, or get up from a bed or chair? Do you urinate more than once every hour during the day? Does the urge to urinate wake you from your sleep more than twice most nights? Do you lose urine less than 5 minutes after you feel the urge to urinate more than once per week?"

RESULTS: Seven hundred ninety-nine black, 932 white, and 639 Hispanic women completed the survey. More white women reported urinary incontinence than did black or Hispanic women (41% versus 31% versus 30%, P < .001) because of their higher prevalence of stress incontinence symptoms (39% versus 27% versus 24%, P < .001). The percentage of women who had urge incontinence symptoms was very similar between the three groups (19% versus 16% versus 16%, P = .214). More black and white women reported mixed incontinence than Hispanic women (14% versus 15% versus 9%, P < .001). More black women had frequency and nocturia than the other two groups (31% and 35% versus 19% and 19% versus 25% and 26%, P < .001).

CONCLUSION: The prevalence of incontinence symptoms is significantly different among black, Hispanic, and white women.

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