Urinary incontinence: causes and nursing care. A bibliographic review

Abstract

Introduction: Urinary incontinence is a disorder that occurs more in the female sex and with the increase of the age, producing as main consequence a decrease in the patient’s quality of life. Objective: Synthesize the scientific evidence related to the causes, treatment and nursing care in urinary incontinence. Methodology: A systematic bibliographic review was carried out in the ProQuest, PubMed, Google Academic and Scielo databases, using as terms "urinary incontinence", "risk factors", "nursing interventions" and "therapeutic procedures" with a 5-year search limitation. Experimental and review studies were included. Results: 26 articles were included: 5 experimental studies, 18 systematic reviews and 3 meta-analyses. Urinary incontinence is affected by age, sex and risk factors depending on both the type and intensity of incontinence and the patient’s own characteristics. The approach to this problem is an interdisciplinary one in which less invasive techniques are introduced, including behavioural therapy and pelvic floor exercises; to end up in surgery in case the patient’s circumstances require it and/or there is no improvement with less invasive techniques. Conclusions: Urinary incontinence is closely influenced by the variables age and sex; however, the existence of risk factors and some causes can contribute to increase the probability of their establishment. Nursing interventions are promising in establishing early detection and response to the problem, always based on the least degree of invasion.