Comparison the effect of surgical and medical therapy on health related quality of life

The chronic diseases such as urinary incontinence could seriously affect health and consequently quality of life of women. The purpose of this study was to compare the quality of life in the patients who recently diagnosed with mixed urinary incontinence and candidate for surgical or medical treatment. This research was a semi experimental and interventional study aim to determine and compare quality of life in newly diagnosed mixed urinary incontinence patients were selected urology clinics of educational universities of medical science in Tehran. Patients selected by simple sampling method in two groups (50 in surgical treatment group and 50 in medical treatment group) and based on aim. Data was collected by three questionnaires including demographic data, diseases and treatment characteristics and questions about generic (SF-36) and specific (I-QOL) aspects of quality of life. Health related quality of life status measured through interview before intervention, 3, and 6 month after treatment. The SPSS-13 program was used for data analysis. Descriptive statistics such as absolute, relative and average ranking sufficiency and also deductive statistics such as χ2, paired t test, and Mann Whitney and repeated measurement analysis, used as well. Quality of life in all aspects was not statistically significant different before treatment in both groups with I-QOL and SF-36 scores. (P<0.05). There were significant improvements in 3th and 6th month I-QOL and SF36 scores (except for bodily pain) (P<0.001) after treatment for both methods (medical and surgical). There were no statistically significant differences between two therapy methods after 3 and 6 month scores respectively (P=0.3, P=0.7). The Findings showed that treatment (regardless of type of therapy) significantly improves the quality of life of the patients suffering from mixed urinary incontinence. Therefore, it seems levelheaded to consider medical treatment as the first treatment choice. This would reduce unwanted consequences resulting from hospitalization, as well as expenses.