Purpose: To assess the relation between diabetic retinopathy (DR) severity and urinary incontinence (UI) in patients with diabetes mellitus (DM).
Materials and methods: This prospective and observational study included 153 subjects. Patients were divided into three subgroups, according to severity of DR, as: No-DR, nonproliferative DR (NPDR), and proliferative DR (PDR); 40 age-matched healthy subjects formed the control group. Turkish version of the Urogenital Stress Inventory 6 (UDI-6) and Incontinence Impact Questionnaire (IIQ-7) were used to assess the UI symptoms and their effect on quality of life. The UDI-6 and IIQ-7 scores were the primary outcomes of the study.
Results: No significant difference was observed between groups regarding age, maternal parity, body mass index, type of delivery, menopausal status, and smoking. The mean UDI-6 urgency UI questions score was significantly higher in the PDR group and significantly higher in the NPDR group than in the control group. The mean UDI-6 stress UI questions score was similar between groups. The mean UDI-6 voiding difficulty questions score was significantly higher in the PDR group and no significant difference was observed between other groups. The mean IIQ-7 score was significantly lower in the PDR group. A moderate and positive correlation was found between glycated hemoglobin level and the UDI-6 urgency UI and voiding difficulty questions and total scores. A weak and positive correlation was found between the duration of DM and the all UDI-6 scores.
Conclusion: The present study showed that UI symptoms and their effect on QOL were more severe in patients with PDR.
Keywords: diabetic retinopathy; quality of life; urinary incontinence.
© 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.