The burden of incontinence in a real-world data environment – insights from a digital patient companion

Background Urinary Incontinence (UI) can have a potentially devastating effect on women’s quality of life (QoL). During pregnancy and after delivery, the strength of the pelvic floor muscle may decrease, resulting in a high rate of UI. Conservative treatment is the first-choice treatment modality. Nowadays, this can be supported by digital apps.

Methods We analyzed data from pelvina^Ó – a digital health companion pelvic floor course by Temedica. Using “The Questionnaire for Urinary Incontinence Diagnosis” (QUID) and SF-6D for QoL we analyzed the incidence and degree of incontinence, determined the influence of different demographic factors and evaluated the impact of UI on the QoL.

Results In all, 293 patients with a median age of 36 years and a median of 2 deliveries were included in this study. Patients were slightly to moderately affected by UI with a QUID of 6. Age and number of children were independently associated with the incidence of UI with an adjusted OR of 1.06 (95 % CI 1.01 - 1.12) and aOR of 1.86 (95 % CI 1.12 - 3.08). The severity of incontinence symptoms correlated with impairment in QoL (r = 0.489, P < .001).

Conclusion The use of real-world data, as generated by digital health solutions such as pelvina^Ó, creates the opportunity to gain insight into the reality of patients´ lives outside of classical clinical studies. In this paper we can corroborate the known associations between number of children and UI and the great influence UI has on QoL.

Interessenkonflikt

Benjamin Friedrich ist als Chief Medical Officer bei Temdedica angestellt. Alle anderen Autoren haben erklärt, dass kein Interessenkonflikt besteht.

Publication History

Article published online:
07 October 2020