Long-term self-assessment of urinary continence after stress urinary incontinence surgery.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the long-term subjective urinary continence status and quality of life after 3 types of primary operation for stress urinary incontinence. METHODS: One hundred thirty-four consecutive patients who underwent anti-incontinence surgery (laparoscopic colposuspension, classic tension-free vaginal tape procedure, or open colposuspension) 6 to 9 years ago were mailed short-form questionnaires of the International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire-Urinary Incontinence. For statistical analysis, the Student t test, the χ test, and the analysis-of-variance test were used. RESULTS: Eighty-seven patients (64.9%) returned the questionnaire. The mean follow-up was 7.48 years (range, 6-9 years). Patients in the tension-free vaginal tape group were significantly older (P < 0.001). After primary operation, 7.4% (2 of the 27 patients) in the laparoscopic colposuspension group, 23.53% (8/34) in the classic tension-free vaginal tape group, and 11.5% (3/26) in the open colposuspension group were continent. Repeated operative treatment was more frequent in the laparoscopic colposuspension (18.5%) and open colposuspension (30%) groups compared with the tension-free vaginal tape group (0%; P ≤ 0.003). Calculated scores from the questionnaire from all 3 groups indicated moderate to severe recurrent urinary incontinence with equal prevalence of symptoms of stress, urge, or mixed urinary incontinence. CONCLUSIONS: Subjective urinary continence 6 to 9 years after primary operative treatment was low for all analyzed procedures.