Effect of urinary incontinence on negative self-perception of health and depression in elderly adults: a population-based cohort

Abstract

The scope of this study was to measu-re the prevalence of negative self-perceived health and depressive symptoms in elderly adults according to the presence of urinary incontinence, after a follow-up of nine years. This is a prospective po-pulation-based cohort study entitled Bagé Cohort Study of Aging, from Rio Grande do Sul. A total of 1,593 elderly adults were interviewed in the baseline study (2008) and 735 between Septem-ber 2016 and August 2017. The “urinary incontinence (UI)” exposure was assessed in the baseline study and the outcomes “negative self-perceived health” and “depressive symptoms” in 2016/17. The odds ratio and 95% confidence interval were calculated by Logistic Regression and adjusted for demographic, social, behavioral and health con-ditions. The prevalence of UI was 20.7% in 2008 and 24.5% in 2016/17; the incidence was 19.8%, being 23.8% among women and 14.6% among men (p = 0.009). Elderly adults with UI at the baseline study had a 4.0 (CI95%: 1.8-8.8) and a 3.4 (CI95%: 1.8-6.2) greater chance to develop negative self-perception of health and depressive symptoms, respectively, after nine years of follow-up, compared to those without UI. The results show a greater probability of mental problems among elderly adults with UI.