Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Nurse-Led Continence Care Treatments for Chinese Primary Care Patients with Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms

• Published in: PloS one 2015-06, Vol.10 (6), p.e0129875-e0129875
• Main Authors: Choi, Edmond P H, Chin, Weng-Yee, Lam, Cindy L K, Wan, Eric Y F, Chan, Anca K C, Chan, Karina H Y
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aged; Analysis; Care and treatment; Case-Control Studies; Chau, Hong; Communities; Consultation; Demographics; Demography; Effectiveness; Female; Global health; Health care; Health services utilization; Humans; Intervention; Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms; Male; Middle Aged; Nurse's Role; Nurses; Patients; Primary care nursing; Primary Health Care - methods; Prospective Studies; Quality of Life; Recruiting; Research design; Risk Factors; Sampling; Statistical tests; Surveys and Questionnaires; Treatment Outcome; Urinary incontinence; Urinary Incontinence - diagnosis; Urinary Incontinence - epidemiology; Urinary Incontinence - therapy; Urinary tract; Urine; Waiting rooms
• ISSN: 1932-6203; 1932-6203
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0129875

The aim of this study was to evaluate whether community-based nurse-led continence care interventions are effective in improving outcomes for adult Chinese primary care patients with lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS). A case-controlled intervention study was conducted. An intervention group of 360 primary care patients enrolled into a nurse-led continence care programme were recruited by consecutive sampling. A control group of 360 primary care patients with LUTS identified by screening were recruited from the waiting rooms of primary care clinics by consecutive sampling. Both groups were monitored at baseline and at 12 months. Outcome measures included symptom severity, health-related quality of life (HRQOL), self-efficacy, global health and self-reported health service utilization at 12-months. The effect of the continence care programme on symptom severity and HRQOL was assessed by the difference-in-difference estimation, using independent t-test and multiple liner regression. Chi-square test was used to compare the self-efficacy, global health and self-reported health service utilization between the two groups at 12-months. After adjusting for baseline severity and socio-demographics, the intervention group had significant improvements in LUTS severity (P