To investigate if leakage circumstances collected using the Urinary Leakage Circumstances Questionnaire (ULCQ) are correlated with physician diagnosis and urodynamic results and resolve after surgery.

The ULCQ was developed to investigate leakage circumstances encountered by women with incontinence. Women completed both the ULCQ and the International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire-Urinary Incontinence Short Form before clinical and urodynamic examination. Those who underwent a suburethral sling procedure completed both questionnaires postoperatively. We performed a principal component analysis and evaluated the questionnaire's external properties including construct validity and responsiveness.

One hundred and eighty-six women were included in the validation phase, and 168 underwent suburethral sling procedure. Mean postoperative follow-up was 51 months.

Principal component analysis identified 4 dimensions from the 23 leakage circumstances listed in the ULCQ: effort, stimulation, postural, and intercourse; the internal consistency of each dimension was excellent (Cronbach alpha: 0.87, 0.86, 0.82, and 0.79, respectively). Effort (+0.39), stimulation (+0.24), and postural (+0.47) dimensions were correlated with the International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire-Urinary Incontinence Short Form score; the effort dimension was correlated with greater stress incontinence severity assessed by the physician; the stimulation dimension with urgency and urge incontinence severity assessed by the physician, and with lower volumes during cystometry; and the postural dimension with higher age and lower urethral closure pressure. Each dimension recorded a significant improvement after surgery, with the largest effect size for effort dimension (2.29 [confidence interval 95%: 1.96-2.62]).

The ULCQ is a useful tool for investigating female urinary incontinence and detecting changes after surgery.