Complications of Mesh Procedures for Stress Urinary Incontinence

Complications from mesh procedures (i.e. insertion of tension-free vaginal tapes (TVT), trans-obturator tapes (TOT) and suprapubic slings (SS)) used during surgical treatment of stress urinary incontinence have caused major concern around the world. The investigators aim to conduct a retrospective cohort study using administrative inpatient data from the Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) database to determine the complications of all first-time surgical mesh procedures in the treatment of stress urinary incontinence (SUI) in women treated in a National Health Service (NHS) hospital in England who were discharged from hospital between 1st April 2007 and 31st March 2015. The primary outcome measure is the number and types of complications (occurring peri-procedurally, within 30 days of the mesh procedure and those occurring during follow-up). Additional outcomes recorded include: the numbers and types of mesh procedures, including those with potentially confounding concomitant procedures.