Evidence map›Paper›PMID 23635747›Full record

ArticleObstetrics and gynecology2013

Severity of urinary incontinence and effect on quality of life in women by incontinence type.

Vatche A Minassian, Elizabeth Devore, Kaitlin Hagan, Francine Grodstein

Open access · greenAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Obstetrics and gynecology, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 51 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
51citing papers in PubMed, 4 pooled it
6.6field-weighted citation impact, top 3% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

51 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 130 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Vaginal lasers for treating stress urinary incontinence in women.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2025
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  4. Yoga for treating urinary incontinence in women.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2019
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Vatche A MinassianDivision of Urogynecology, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, the Channing Division of Network Medicine, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, and the Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts.
Elizabeth Devore
Kaitlin Hagan
Francine Grodstein
Brigham and Women's Hospital · US

Funding

Statistical MethodsP01CA087969 · NCI · BRIGHAM AND WOMEN'S HOSPITAL · PI ROSNER, BERNARD A · 2000 to 2019
$77.8M
Risk Factors for Breast Cancer in Younger NursesR01CA050385 · NCI · HARVARD UNIVERSITY (SCH OF PUBLIC HLTH) · PI ELIASSEN, A. HEATHER, WILLETT, WALTER C. · 1989 to 2019
$32.3M
Natural History of Stress, Urge and Mixed Urinary Incontinence in WomenR01DK082551 · NIDDK · GEISINGER CLINIC · PI YAN, XIAOWEI SHERRY · 2009 to 2013
$2.6M
Risk Factors for Urinary Incontinence in WomenR01DK062438 · NIDDK · BRIGHAM AND WOMEN'S HOSPITAL · PI GRODSTEIN, FRANCINE · 2002 to 2010
$2.4M
NCI NIH HHS CA50385NCI NIH HHS CA87969NCI NIH HHS P01 CA087969NCI NIH HHS R01 CA050385NIDDK NIH HHS DK62438NIDDK NIH HHS R01 DK062438NIDDK NIH HHS R01 DK082551
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectiveTo estimate how symptom severity, extent of bother, and quality of life differ across urinary incontinence (UI) subtypes.

methodsWe evaluated prevalent UI cases from the Nurses' Health Studies, including women aged 41-83 years. Women with UI (leaking more than once per month) were subclassified according to reported symptoms such as stress UI (SUI, leakage with activity), urge UI (UUI, leakage with urgency), or mixed UI (SUI and UI co-occurring equally). The UI severity was assessed in 102,418 women based on the Sandvik severity index. In a subset of older women with weekly UI, we asked about bother (n=1,697) and quality of life (Incontinence Impact Questionnaire; n=1,748). The UI severity, bother, and quality of life were compared across subtypes using polytomous logistic regression, adjusting for other characteristics.

resultsThe distributions of UI subtypes were 51% SUI, 27% UUI, and 22% mixed UI. Approximately half had slight UI, 26% had moderate UI, and 23% had severe UI. Severe UI was more common in women reporting mixed UI (37%) than UUI (27%) or SUI symptoms (15%) (P<.001). More women with severe mixed (21%; P=.02) and UUI symptoms (13%; P=.1) reported being "greatly" bothered by their UI compared with SUI (10%). Women with severe mixed (mean 18.0; P<.001) and UUI symptoms (mean 13.4; P=.004) had higher mean incontinence effect scores compared with SUI (mean 9.8).

conclusionWomen reporting mixed UI symptoms describe more severe and bothersome incontinence, with higher effect on quality of life. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: II.

Indexed as

Quality of LifeAdultAgedAged, 80 and overFemaleHumansMiddle AgedSeverity of Illness IndexUrinary Incontinence

Identifiers

PMID23635747
PMCPMC3959868
OpenAlexW2017388071

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceTDM
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.