Objective. Little is known on stress urinary incontinence (SUI) in women with refractory or unexplained chronic cough (RCC/UCC). We assessed 1) the prevalence of SUI, and if SUI is underdiagnosed; and 2) if women with SUI have poorer quality of life (QoL).

Methods. The diagnosis of SUI was taken from clinical charts of women with RCC/UCC and cough duration >1 year from outpatient hospital clinics. In parallel, women completed questionnaires assessing cough severity (Visual Analogue Scale [VAS]), cough-related QoL (Leicester Cough Questionnaire [LCQ]) and reported on SUI (Likert scale, from never to always). Three groups were compared: 1) Diagnosed SUI (SUI in clinical chart), 2) Undiagnosed SUI (SUI not in clinical chart, but frequently/always in questionnaire) and 3) No SUI.

Results. In 147 women with RCC/UCC, 82 (55.8%) had no SUI, 32 (21.8%) diagnosed SUI and 33 (22.4%) undiagnosed SUI. Cough duration was similar (6 years) and mean VAS score for cough severity (61, 66 and 67 mm respectively) did not differ. Women with diagnosed or undiagnosed SUI scored lower (indicating poorer cough-related QoL) in all LCQ scores than women with no SUI. Pos hoc multiple comparisons showed no differences in QoL between diagnosed and undiagnosed SUI, but poorer QoL in both cases compared to non SUI.

Conclusion. This study suggests that SUI is frequent in women with RCC/UCC and is underdiagnosed. Women with SUI (whether diagnosed or not) have poorer cough-related QoL than women with no SUI. Funded by MSD