Factors Associated With Delayed Consultation Among Women With Urinary Incontinence in a Urology Outpatient Setting: A Cross-Sectional Study.

Authors

Salim Zengin, Ahmet Olgun, Caglar Boyaci, Abdulbaki Kalkan, Onur Kutluay, Abdullah Gul

Published in

Archivos espanoles de urologia. Volume 79. Issue 8. Pages 1333-1344.

Abstract

To determine the duration of delay in healthcare-seeking among women with urinary incontinence (UI), compare the sociodemographic and clinical characteristics of early and delayed consulters, and investigate sociocultural determinants associated with delayed healthcare-seeking behavior.
This cross-sectional study included 154 women presenting with UI to the Urology Outpatient Clinic of Bursa Yuksek Ihtisas Training and Research Hospital between March and June 2026. UI severity was assessed using the International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire-Short Form (ICIQ-SF), quality of life using the Incontinence Quality of Life Questionnaire (I-QOL), and sociocultural determinants using the Urinary Incontinence Help-Seeking Scale (UI-HSS), developed by the researchers. Participants were categorized into early consultation (≤1 year) and delayed consultation (>1 year) groups. Factors associated with delayed consultation were evaluated using logistic regression analysis.
Overall, 40.3% of participants delayed seeking medical care for more than one year after symptom onset. Women with delayed consultation had lower educational attainment, higher ICIQ-SF scores, and lower I-QOL total scores (all p < 0.001). Scores for illness perception, embarrassment and consultation barriers, normalization beliefs, lack of social support, and fatalism were also significantly higher among delayed consulters (all p < 0.05). Increasing consultation delay was associated with greater symptom severity and poorer quality of life. In multivariable analysis, higher educational level (odds ratio [OR] = 0.57, p = 0.001) and higher I-QOL total score (OR = 0.93, p = 0.005) were associated with lower odds of delayed consultation. Prior use of alternative treatments was also associated with lower odds of delayed consultation (OR = 0.43, p = 0.036).
Delayed healthcare-seeking is common among women with UI and cannot be explained solely by symptom severity. Educational level, quality of life, and sociocultural factors were associated with healthcare-seeking behavior. Addressing these factors may facilitate earlier diagnosis and treatment.

PMID:
42876124
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 15 Oct 2026.

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