In the new Multisponsor Surveys' Gallup study of women with stress urinary incontinence (SUI), 70 percent of those surveyed said they worry about coughing, sneezing, and even laughing in public for fear of having an accident, which is not surprising, since more than half (55 percent) of these women have been embarrassed in public at least once in the past year. Yet, even with this anxiety, 62 percent of women sufferers waited a year or longer before even discussing their condition with a doctor.
       "All of these behaviors are consistent with what I have seen in my practice. Most women cope with incontinence because they're used to wearing pads," said Jill Peters-Gee, MD, director of the Continence Care Program for Women's Health Connecticut. "Women simply don't know that SUI can be treated easily."
       SUI, the most common type of incontinence, affects nearly eight million American women. SUI is the involuntary loss of urine due to any physical activity that puts strain on the bladder.
       Unlike other types of incontinence, there are no drugs to treat SUI. Exercises like Kegels can help mild SUI sufferers or women who have incontinence due to childbirth. Yet, for many women, Kegel exercises are ineffective, and the only way to correct the problem is with surgery.
       "Because of their greater willingness to cope, women are more reluctant than men to pursue a diagnosis and seek the most advanced treatments. Urinary incontinence represents one of the largest healthcare gender gaps where women place themselves at a disadvantage to men," said Nancy Muller, executive director of the National Association for Continence. "It's high time to close this gap through greater public education about available treatment options."

Multisponsor Surveys' Gallup Study Offers Insight Into Why Women Cope
       The survey of 1,270 women 35 years of age or older who self identified as having SUI was designed to uncover why women don't seek treatment. The survey findings show that women sufferers are not aware of all of their treatment options.
- 50 percent of stress-incontinent women were not aware of any surgical procedure available to correct or improve the problem.
- Only 22 percent said that their physician offered surgery. Even though the majority of women surveyed have not had surgery to correct the problem, results showed that stress incontinent women are still bothered by the condition.
- 69 percent are embarrassed by their condition.
- 91 percent report changing their behaviors to cope with SUI, including always wearing absorbent pads (59 percent) and dressing in dark clothes (19 percent).
- 62 percent waited one year or longer before speaking to a doctor about treatment options. Of those who waited one year or more, one in four (26 percent) didn't think treatment options existed or were too embarrassed to talk about it.
       Finally, 35 percent of women sufferers report changing their activities to accommodate the condition, including avoiding exercise, traveling less frequently, and avoiding sex.

GYNECARE TVT Offers Women with SUI a Simple, One-Time Solution
       SUI occurs when muscles and pelvic tissue surrounding the urethra (the tube from the bladder through which urine exits the body) have weakened. Common causes of SUI include strenuous exercise, childbirth, loss of pelvic muscle tone, loss of estrogen, obesity, and gynecologic surgery. One minimally invasive procedure that has been proven to effectively treat SUI uses GYNECARE TVT* Tension-Free Support for Incontinence.
       GYNECARE TVT Tension-Free Support is used in a simple outpatient procedure. The GYNECARE TVT device uses a mesh sling to provide support to the middle of the urethra, the section that is strained during physical activities. This positioning of the device provides support only when needed and creates a "tension-free" treatment solution that reduces the risk of over-correcting. Long-term data show that four to six years after treatment, 85 percent of women treated with GYNECARE TVT Tension-Free Support remained dry, and an additional 11 percent remained significantly improved.
       "I've had incredible success treating patients with GYNECARE TVT. The biggest advantage is that it can be performed under local anesthesia, allowing us to test the ability of the tape to create continence and know on the spot that the condition has been treated. The ability to make adjustments right then and there also reduces the need for using a urinary catheter," said Dr. Peters-Gee. "In addition, women who might not be candidates for other surgeries that require general anesthesia are candidates for GYNECARE TVT."

About GYNECARE TVT
       To date, more than 200,000 women worldwide (more than 50,000 in the United States) have been treated with GYNECARE TVT Tension-Free Support. As with any surgery of this kind, the procedure should not be performed in pregnant patients or patients who plan future pregnancies, since childbirth can negate the results of the surgery. Although rare, complications associated with the device include injury to blood vessels or nerves, difficulty urinating, and bladder and bowel injury.
       GYNECARE is a global healthcare company currently offering less-invasive options for the treatment of abnormal uterine bleeding, fibroids, adhesions, and female urinary incontinence. GYNECARE is a division of ETHICON, INC., a Johnson & Johnson company.
       For more information about stress urinary incontinence and GYNECARE TVT Tension-Free Support, visit www.controlsuddenurineloss.com.