Women utilizing the free provision and home delivery of urinary incontinence pads by the Swedish health services were sent a questionnaire concerning their quality of life and pad use. Evaluable and complete replies were received from 460 of 521 women. The incontinence was chronic and moderate to severe, considerably restricting general and professional activities. Feelings of anxiety, isolation and depression were common, their prevalence rising with incontinence grade. Satisfaction with the supplied pads was generally good, with absorptive and antiodor properties most appreciated. The threatened introduction of charges for the pads was reported as a dominant anxiety. A drawback of free supply may be that, as in 24% of the present series, women primarily use the pads as a solution to the problem of incontinence, without a doctor's intervention and before a trial of continencepromoting or curative measures.
Keywords Absorbent pads - Incontinence - Quality of life
Editorial Comment: The authors attempt to investigate the association between pad use as a form of therapy for urinary incontinence and quality of life. The major problem with the study design, as acknowledged by the investigators, is the unknown denominator of the population studied (non-responders to the questionnaire), which seriously precludes any statistical analysis of the data and hampers the conclusions drawn. However, it is an interesting study from many aspects, especially to learn how incontinence has been handled from a sociologic and bureaucratic standpoint in Sweden over the last two decades.