TY - JOUR
T1 - Urinary incontinence in women: treatment barriers and significance for Danish and German GPs
AU - Elsner, Susanne
AU - Juergensen, Martina
AU - Faust, Elke
AU - Niesel, Achim
AU - Pedersen, Louise Schreiber
AU - Rudnicki, Peter Martin
AU - Waldmann, Annika
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2019. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved.For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.
Copyright:
This record is sourced from MEDLINE/PubMed, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine
PY - 2020/7/23
Y1 - 2020/7/23
N2 - BACKGROUND: Female urinary incontinence (UI) is common. Only scant information exists on the significance of UI for GPs' consultations. OBJECTIVES: (i) To assess the significance of female UI for GPs and to look at barriers that could be detrimental to treatment by comparing GPs from Denmark and Germany, with different health systems and access to UI guidelines. (ii) To assess whether GPs' gender and age were relevant to the discussion of UI. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional survey. In the Fehmarn belt-region, a Danish-German border region, a self-developed questionnaire was sent to all the GPs (n = 930). RESULTS: In total, 407 GPs returned the questionnaire (43%); 403 questionnaires were analysed. Using a scale from 0 (never) to 10 (always), addressing UI was reported with an average score of 3.8 (SD: 2.1) among Danish and 3.5 (SD: 2.1) among German GPs. The topic was discussed more frequently with female (4.2; SD 2.2) than with male GPs (3.2; SD 2.0). Danish GPs estimated the prevalence among their female patients at 10% (SD: 8.0) and German GPs at 14% (SD: 11.2). 61% of the Danish and 19% of the German GPs used UI guidelines. German GPs significantly more often reported the barrier 'uncertainty of how to treat UI' [OR = 5.39 (95% CI: 2.8; 10.4)]. CONCLUSIONS: In consultations with female GPs, UI was discussed significantly more frequently than with male GPs. Compared with the Danish GPs, German GPs stated significantly more uncertainties regarding UI treatment measures, and tended not to use UI guidelines.
AB - BACKGROUND: Female urinary incontinence (UI) is common. Only scant information exists on the significance of UI for GPs' consultations. OBJECTIVES: (i) To assess the significance of female UI for GPs and to look at barriers that could be detrimental to treatment by comparing GPs from Denmark and Germany, with different health systems and access to UI guidelines. (ii) To assess whether GPs' gender and age were relevant to the discussion of UI. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional survey. In the Fehmarn belt-region, a Danish-German border region, a self-developed questionnaire was sent to all the GPs (n = 930). RESULTS: In total, 407 GPs returned the questionnaire (43%); 403 questionnaires were analysed. Using a scale from 0 (never) to 10 (always), addressing UI was reported with an average score of 3.8 (SD: 2.1) among Danish and 3.5 (SD: 2.1) among German GPs. The topic was discussed more frequently with female (4.2; SD 2.2) than with male GPs (3.2; SD 2.0). Danish GPs estimated the prevalence among their female patients at 10% (SD: 8.0) and German GPs at 14% (SD: 11.2). 61% of the Danish and 19% of the German GPs used UI guidelines. German GPs significantly more often reported the barrier 'uncertainty of how to treat UI' [OR = 5.39 (95% CI: 2.8; 10.4)]. CONCLUSIONS: In consultations with female GPs, UI was discussed significantly more frequently than with male GPs. Compared with the Danish GPs, German GPs stated significantly more uncertainties regarding UI treatment measures, and tended not to use UI guidelines.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85088607342&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1093/fampra/cmz077
DO - 10.1093/fampra/cmz077
M3 - Journal articles
C2 - 31758169
AN - SCOPUS:85088607342
VL - 37
SP - 367
EP - 373
JO - Family Practice
JF - Family Practice
SN - 0263-2136
IS - 3
ER -
