Duration of urinary incontinence between first symptoms manifestation and reporting to urodynamic tests according to age of patients and urinary incontinence type

Background: Because urinary incontinence is still such an embarrassing problem, many patients do not report this problem. Women are averse to diagnosis and treatment of urinary incontinence.
Objective: The aim of the study was to estimate duration of urinary incontinence history. We analyzed the time between manifestation of symptoms and reporting them to the doctor.
Material and methods: In our research we included 200 consecutive female patients, aged between 33 and 85 years old, subjected to urodynamic diagnostics because of urinary incontinence. We analyzed whether the kind of urinary incontinence can determine earlier notification of disease.
Results: Stress urinary incontinence patients report incontinence on average after 46 months, while patients with mixed urinary incontinence do so after 48, those with overflow urinary incontinence after 42 and patients with overactive bladder after 33 months after first symptoms manifested.
Conclusions: The average period of time between manifestation of urinary incontinence and notification of the problem in the group of incontinent women is 42 months. Overactive bladder patients report the disease on average one year earlier than women with stress and mixed urinary incontinence.