Notice: Users may be experiencing issues with displaying some pages on stanfordhealthcare.org. We are working closely with our technical teams to resolve the issue as quickly as possible. Thank you for your patience.

Urinary incontinence in women: Direct costs of routine care. American journal of obstetrics and gynecology Subak, L. n., Van Den Eeden, S. n., Thom, D. n., Creasman, J. M., Brown, J. S. 2007; 197 (6): 596.e1–9

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to estimate the direct costs of routine care for urinary incontinence (UI) in community-dwelling, racially diverse women.In the Reproductive Risks for Incontinence Study at Kaiser population-based study, 528 women with UI weekly or more quantified resources that were used for UI. Routine care costs were calculated with the use of national resource costs ($2005). Potential predictors of these outcomes were examined by multivariable linear regression.Mean age was 55 +/- 9 (SD) years. Among women with weekly UI, 69% reported incontinence-related costs. Median weekly cost was $1.83 (25%-75% interquartile range [IQR], $0.50, $5.23), increasing from $0.93 (IQR, $0, $3) for moderate to $7.82 (IQR, $5, $37) for very severe incontinence. Costs that increased with incontinence severity (P < .001) and body mass index (P < .001) were 2.2-fold higher for African American versus white women (P < .0001) and 42% higher for women with mixed versus stress incontinence (P < .05).Women pay a mean of >$250 per year out-of-pocket for UI routine care. Effective incontinence treatment may decrease costs.

View details for DOI 10.1016/j.ajog.2007.04.029

View details for PubMedID 17880904