Prevalence and impact of urinary symptoms among community-dwelling stroke survivors.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE To establish prevalence of urinary symptoms among community-dwelling stroke survivors and how these symptoms affected lives of these survivors compared with a nonstroke population. METHODS The present study was a community-based postal survey in Leicestershire community, UK (that excluded institutional settings), that was designed to track stroke, urinary, and bowel symptoms and the effect of such symptoms on relationships, social life, daily activities, and overall quality of life. Subjects included 14 600 people who were living in the community and </=40 years of age, randomly selected from the Leicestershire Health Authority Register. RESULTS A 70% response rate was achieved with the return of 10 226 questionnaires. Prevalence of reported stroke was 4% (n=423). Prevalence of urinary symptoms was 34% (n=3197). Overall, stroke survivors had a higher prevalence of symptoms than the nonstroke population (64% to 32%, respectively). These symptoms were reported to have more of an effect on the lives of the stroke survivors compared with the nonstroke population even when adjusted for age and sex differences. This reported impact was not related to the stroke per se but to the severity of the urinary symptoms. CONCLUSIONS These data show a high prevalence of urinary symptoms among community-dwelling stroke survivors. These symptoms were reported to have considerable impact on the lives of stroke survivors, which needs to be taken into account in future research and clinical practice.