Prevalence and Risk Factors for Postpartum Urinary Incontinence Among Postnatal Women in A Tertiary Health Care Centre, North Central Nigeria

Background: Urinary incontinence majorly impacts an individual’s quality of life. Though not life-threatening, it imposes a substantial emotional, social, and financial burden not only on the affected person but also on her family members. Objective: To determine the prevalence and risk factors for urinary incontinence other than vesicovaginal fistula among post-natal clinic women in Jos University Teaching Hospital, Jos. Methods: It was a descriptive cross-sectional study involving 210 women attending a post-natal clinic in the Jos University Teaching Hospital over six months. Data collection was through an interviewer/self-administered questionnaire, which was sorted, coded, and analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Analysis was done using descriptive statistics, into frequencies, Chi-square, and Fisher’s exact test at p<0.05 significance level. Results: The mean age of the study participants was 30.10 years. The overall prevalence of post-partum urinary incontinence among the study participants was 57 (27.10%): Stress urinary incontinence constituted 27 (47.37%), urge incontinence constituted 17 (29.82%), while those with mixed incontinence were 13 (22.81%). There were statistically significant relationships between post-partum urinary incontinence and age, religion, marital status, educational status, and occupation (p=0.001, 0.010, 0.002, 0.001, and 0.001, respectively) Conclusion: The study found that urinary incontinence other than vesicovaginal fistula is not uncommon among women during the puerperium, with stress incontinence being the most prevalent. Risk factors associated with it include age, religion, marital status, educational status, occupation, grand multiparity, and obesity. It's important to actively evaluate post-partum women and offer them treatment where the diagnosis is made.