The prevalence of urinary incontinence in elderly Canadians and its association with dementia, ambulatory function, and institutionalization

Authors

  • Truls Østbye
  • Michael J. Borrie
  • Steinar Hunskaar

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5324/nje.v8i2.465

Abstract

 

Study objectives:

 

 

Design and setting:

 

 

Main results:

 

 

Conclusion:

 

 

Key words:

 

 

 

urinary incontinence; dementia; institutionalization; community-institutional relationsUrinary incontinence is a prevalent condition among the elderly, and is associated with

age, dementia, and ambulatory function. Although incontinence is highly prevalent among institutionalized

persons, the majority of persons with incontinence live in the community.

Overall, 16.9% of the women and 8.0% of the men reported incontinence, the numbers

for daily incontinence were 7.0% and 5.2% respectively. The prevalence increased by age, severity of

dementia, and decreasing ambulatory function. It is calculated that 69% of elderly men and 73% of

elderly women with any incontinence live in the community. 31% of the male and 32% of the female

patients have some kind or severity of dementia, and 21% of the men and 27% of the women have

decreased ambulatory function. One half of the persons with incontinence live in the community, with

no cognitive or ambulatory impairment.

Population based multi-centre survey with stratified random sampling all over

Canada. Randomly selected persons aged 65 and over were interviewed. Those having cognitive impairment

(n=1614), a randomly selected sample of those without (n=731) and an institutional sample

(n=1255) underwent clinical assessment.

Data from The Canadian Study of Health and Aging are analysed for prevalence of

urinary incontinence, and its association with dementia, ambulatory function, and institutionalization.

ABSTRACT

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Downloads

Published

2009-10-30

How to Cite

Østbye, T., Borrie, M. J., & Hunskaar, S. (2009). The prevalence of urinary incontinence in elderly Canadians and its association with dementia, ambulatory function, and institutionalization. Norsk Epidemiologi, 8(2). https://doi.org/10.5324/nje.v8i2.465

Issue

Vol. 8 No. 2 (1998): The epidemiology of ageing

Section

Articles

License

Norsk Epidemiologi licenses all content of the journal under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) licence. This means, among other things, that anyone is free to copy and distribute the content, as long as they give proper credit to the author(s) and the journal. For further information, see Creative Commons website for human readable or lawyer readable versions.

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

1. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.

2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.

3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).