Evaluation of the outcomes of care of nurse-led continence care clinics for Chinese patients with lower urinary tract symptoms, a 2-year prospective longitudinal study

Aim The aim of this study was to evaluate the 24-month outcomes of a nurse-led continence care service for Chinese primary care patients with lower urinary tract symptoms. Background Most studies evaluating the outcomes of continence care services have had short follow-up durations with limited knowledge on whether benefits are sustained beyond 12 months. Design Twenty-four month cohort study. Methods Two comparison groups were recruited: (1) Patients with lower urinary tract symptoms attending a nurse-led community-based continence care programme; (2) Primary care patients with lower urinary tract symptoms identified by screening, receiving usual medical care. Self-reported symptom severity, health-related quality of life, patient enablement and general health perception were measured at baseline and 24 months. Data collection occurred from March 2013–August 2015. Results Baseline and 24-month data were available for 170 continence care and 158 usual care subjects. After controlling for baseline characteristics, the continence care group was observed to have greater reductions in symptom severity and larger improvements in disease-specific health-related quality of life, patient enablement and general health perception than the usual care group. Deterioration in the mental components of generic health-related quality of life was observed in the usual care group, but not in the continence care group. Conclusion Over 24 months, when compared with usual medical care, nurse-led continence care services were effective in reducing symptom severity and improving health-related quality of life, patient enablement and general health perception and provided protection against deterioration in the mental components of health-related quality of life in patients with lower urinary tract symptoms.