Assessment of the Impact of Male Urinary Incontinence on Health-Related Quality of Life: A Population Based Study

Objective To assess the impact of male urinary incontinence on health-related quality of life by population based study. Methods A two-stage systematic sampling method was adopted. A total of 5830 men participated in this survey. Face –to-face interviews were used to collect data. Urinary incontinence and symptom bother were measured with the Urogenital Distress Inventory-6 (UDI-6). General health-related quality of life (QoL) was measured using EQ-VAS, which evaluates the respondent's self-rated health on a vertical visual analogue scale. Results The age-adjusted prevalence of Korean male UI was 5.5%. Incontinent men reported higher score of UDI-6 and lower score of EQ-VAS than continent men. Men with mixed urinary incontinence reported significantly lower QoL than men with pure stress or urge incontinence. Conclusions Urinary incontinence affects men's QoL negatively. In particular, mixed urinary incontinence has the greatest impact on QoL.