Objective
The purpose of this study was to assess patient expectations of surgical outcome after
preoperative counseling of surgical procedures in a randomized trial of 655 women
in a comparison of the rectus fascial sling and Burch colposuspension.
Study Design
Women who selected surgery for treating stress incontinence and who consented to this
randomized, surgical trial completed a preoperative questionnaire to assess expectations
for the postsurgical effects of surgery on urinary incontinence-related symptoms,
limitations, and emotions. Associations of expectations with a range of preoperative
urinary incontinence measures were explored.
Results
The most frequent preoperative symptoms were urine leakage (98%), embarrassment (88%),
frequency (74%), physical activity (72%), and urgency (70%). Sexual and social limitations
were less frequent (≤44%). Treatment expectations were higher for women who reported
more symptom bother. As expected, most women (98%) had an expectation that urine leakage
would be completely or almost completely eliminated. However, most women (92%) who
reported urgency or frequency (83%) expected significant improvement of these symptoms
after surgery.
Conclusion
Patients who undergo stress incontinence surgery have high expectations regarding
the outcome of incontinence surgery, which include the resolution of urgency and frequency.
Key words
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Article info
Publication history
Accepted:
September 2,
2007
Received:
March 30,
2007
Footnotes
Cite this article as: Mallett VT, Brubaker L, Stoddard AM, et at. The expectations of patients who undergo surgery for stress incontinence. Am J Obstet Gynecol 2008;198:308.e1-308.e6.
Supported by cooperative agreements from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, with additional support from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and the Office of Research on Women’s Health, National Institutes of Health (U01 DK58225, U01 DK58234, U01 DK58229, U01 DK58231, U01 DK60397, U01 DK60401, U01 DK60395, U01 DK60393, U01 DK60380, U01 DK60379)
Identification
Copyright
© 2008 Mosby, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
