Medical, behavioural and minimally invasive therapy - A urologist's view

Abstract

It is estimated that whilst more than 200 million people worldwide are affected by incontinence, only a small proportion of these people have received appropriate advice and therapy for their condition. It is equally clearly established that urinary incontinence has a significant impact on the physical, social and mental well-being of individuals, and escalates in prevalence with advancing age.With this in mind a number of initiatives have been instituted by various continence organisations to promote continence awareness and develop appropriate care pathways.A combination of an increasingly elderly population in the Western world and greater health awareness in the community, combined with the development of new pharmacotherapeutic agents, has focused attention in recent years on this disease area. The likely economic consequences of these developments have emphasised the importance of critically evaluating the robustness, cost-effectiveness and cost-benefit of available treatment options for urinary incontinence in both male and female patients.