Prevalence of urinary incontinence in New Zealand women from the cross-sectional Sexual and Reproductive Health module of the New Zealand Health Survey 2014/2015.

Aims: To describe urinary incontinence prevalence for New Zealand women.

Methods: The New Zealand Health Survey Adult Sexual and Reproductive Health module 2014/2015 was used to estimate urinary incontinence prevalence. Associations between urinary incontinence and age, body mass index (BMI), parity and ethnicity were estimated by logistic regression adjusted for sampling weights.

Results: There were 2,472/5,685 (43.5%) of women aged between and 16 and 74 who responded to the urinary incontinence question and reported at least some incontinence. The sample survey weight-adjusted prevalence (95% confidence interval) was 41.7% (40.0-43.4). An increased prevalence of incontinence was seen with older age, increased BMI and greater parity. The association between BMI and parity was complex, with the lower prevalence with lower BMI attenuated with increasing parity. After adjustment for these variables there was no association with incontinence prevalence for Māori versus non-Māori or European versus non-European.

Conclusions: Urinary incontinence is highly prevalent in New Zealand women. There was no association with ethnicity after adjusting for older age, increased BMI and parity. The prevalence identified in the New Zealand Health Survey is higher than that reported in older surveys based on the electoral roll.