Mobility impairment is associated with urge but not stress urinary incontinence in community‐dwelling older women: results from the Ossébo study

Abstract

Objective To assess the association between functional limitations related to mobility and urinary incontinence (UI) in elderly women.Design An observational cross-sectional study.Setting Nine 'balance' workshops in France.Population A total of 1942 community-dwelling women aged 75-85 years, who were invited, based on voter registration lists, to a 'balance assessment'.Methods Mobility and balance test results for incontinent women were compared with those for continent women according to the severity and type of incontinence.Main outcome measures Data on UI were collected using a selfadministered questionnaire (International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire-Short Form). Motor-related physical abilities were assessed using standardised balance and functional gait tests.Results Forty-two per cent of women had involuntary urine leakage, with daily leaks in 57% of them; 24% had stress UI, 31% had urge UI, and 37% had mixed UI. Results for each functional test were poorer for women with UI and the limitation was more pronounced when the incontinence was severe. Multivariate logistic regression analyses showed that balance and gait impairments were significantly and independently associated with urge UI (walking speed, lower versus higher quartile, odds ratio (OR) 2.2; 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 1.4-3.5; walking balance, unable versus able to do four tandem steps (OR 1.6; 95% CI 1.2-2.2) but not with stress UI. ConclusionsIn this large population of older women living at home, there was a strong association between limitation of motor and balance skills and UI, which was proportional to the severity of incontinence and related specifically to urge incontinence. These results offer new perspectives on the prevention and treatment of urge incontinence in elderly women.

Functional Disability and Compromised Mobility Among Older Women With Urinary Incontinence

“…Fritel et al explored the association of mobility and UI in 1,942 community-dwelling older women in France. (20) An association between slow walking speed and urgency UI (Adjusted OR 2.17 (95% CI 1.36, 3.45) was demonstrated. Interestingly, Fritel et al did not demonstrate a significant association between stress UI and mobility.…”

“…Interestingly, Fritel et al did not demonstrate a significant association between stress UI and mobility. (20) Unfortunately, one limitation of the NSHAP is that does not contain information on certain variables. Specifically, we do not have information on either type of urinary incontinence (stress UI, urgency UI, or mixed UI) or severity of UI, although information on UI frequency was available.…”

Prevalência e fatores associados à incontinência urinária em idosos não institucionalizados

“…Sabe-se que as mulheres têm, em geral, doença mais severa que o homem 34 . A limitação na marcha e a dependência para deambular podem ser fatores implicados na associação de tais agravos com a IU, ao dificultar o acesso ao banheiro 35,36 . Diante dessa situação, revela-se a necessidade de uma assistência de melhor qualidade, que poderia levar a um aumento na expectativa de vida livre de incapacidade em idosos 37 .…”

Associations between obesity, physical fitness, and urinary incontinence in non-institutionalized postmenopausal women: The elderly EXERNET multi-center study

“…Another anatomical explanation would be the association between retropubic space and stress UI since overweight women have more retropubic space than their normal-weight counterparts [36]. Limited individual mobility and sedentarism may influence severity and type of UI [37]. In addition, female UI is also related with other factors such as parity, type of delivery, previous hormone therapy and urogenital surgery, constipation, existence of pelvic floor disorders or other chronic diseases [29,31,[38][39][40].…”