To estimate the incidence rates of stress urinary incontinence (SUI) surgery among Finnish women from 1987 to 2009 by age, and to evaluate the trends in SUI surgery.

We conducted a retrospective register-based study. All SUI procedures on adult women over age 18 years in Finland were identified from the nationwide Care Register for Health Care. Age-specific incidence rates per 1,000 women were calculated for each year. The cumulative incidence of SUI surgery was calculated.

There were 38,340 procedures for SUI in 1987-2009. The overall age-adjusted incidence rate increased 2.6-fold from 0.5/1,000 women in 1987 to 1.3/1,000 in 2002, but declined thereafter by 2009 to 0.8/1,000. There was a six-fold increase in the incidence rate in the age group 60-69 years and a ten-fold increase in the age group 70-79 years from 1987 to 2002. These marked increases in operation rates coincided with the increased use of tension-free vaginal tape (TVT). In 2002, TVT accounted for 96 % of all SUI procedures. Mid-urethral slings with transobturator techniques surpassed TVT in popularity in 2007. The life-long cumulative incidence of SUI surgery was 9.9 % in 2002 and 6.3 % in 2009.

The incidence rates of SUI surgery increased significantly in Finland, especially among women aged 60 to 79 years. Mid-urethral slings have become the dominant procedure.