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

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 withage, dementia, and ambulatory function. Although incontinence is highly prevalent among institutionalizedpersons, 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 numbersfor daily incontinence were 7.0% and 5.2% respectively. The prevalence increased by age, severity ofdementia, and decreasing ambulatory function. It is calculated that 69% of elderly men and 73% ofelderly women with any incontinence live in the community. 31% of the male and 32% of the femalepatients have some kind or severity of dementia, and 21% of the men and 27% of the women havedecreased ambulatory function. One half of the persons with incontinence live in the community, withno cognitive or ambulatory impairment.Population based multi-centre survey with stratified random sampling all overCanada. 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 ofurinary incontinence, and its association with dementia, ambulatory function, and institutionalization.ABSTRACT