Urinary Incontinence Knowledge among Women In Korea

여성의 요실금에 대한 지식 정도

This study was designed to investigate the knowledge of urinary incontinence and its affecting factors among women aged over 30 years in Korea, and to provide the basic data for the primary urinary incontinence management program through the community-based cross sectional study from May 7 to July 18, 2000. The subjects, who were able to understand the questionnaires and consented their participation in the study, consisted of 2183 women, aged over 30 up to 89 years, residing in Seoul, Kyongki$\cdot$Kangwon, Chungchong, YongNam, HoNam, Cheju provinces. It took about 20 to 30 minutes to fill up the questionnaires. The data were analyzed by multiple regression with using SAS program. The results were as follows ; 1. The overall reported knowledge of urinary incontinence was $5.21\pm3.05$(range 0-14). Over the half of the subjects gave the correct answer to 5 items which referred to effects, treatment and management of urinary incontinence. Among items associated with the cause, two items, such as 'many common over-the-counter medications can cause involuntary urine loss', and 'involuntary urine loss is caused by only one or two conditions', were less likely to be correctly answered. 2. Those who were younger, had more education, or had urinary incontinence, were more likely to provide correct answers. The above findings indicated that the education program and campaign of the urinary incontinence should be developed and operated for those who are elderly and have had less education.