Prevalence of urinary, fecal and double incontinence in the elderly living at home

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of urinary, fecal and double incontinence in the elderly, through a population-based cross-sectional survey. The study included all patients aged 60 and over of nine general practices in the Nijmegen Monitoring Project. Patients living in a home for the elderly were excluded, as well as patients with dementia, patients who were too ill to participate and patients with a catheter. There were 5278 selected patients who received a postal questionnaire. Of these, 88% returned it. Nineteen percent of the respondents had involuntary loss of urine twice a month or more, 6% loss of feces and 3% both. The prevalence of urinary, fecal and double incontinence increased with age in both men and women, and especially in men in the oldest age group. Urinary incontinence was more prevalent in women than in men. The prevalence of fecal incontinence showed no sex differences, but the type of fecal incontinence did differ between men and women. In men loss of mucus was twice as common as in women. Double incontinence was also equally prevalent in men and women, except in the age group 65-74 years. In conclusion, urinary, fecal and double incontinence are common conditions in the community-dwelling population. The prevalence rates increase with age. Urinary incontinence is more prevalent in women. There were no sex differences in the prevalence of fecal incontinence but the type of fecal incontinence was different in men and women.

Prevalence of faecal incontinence and its related factors among patients in a Malaysian academic setting

“…The US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) of 2005–2006 found no significant difference in FI between women and men (8.9% vs. 7.7%, p = 0.31) [24]. This was also found in other US studies [2,25], as well as studies for Netherlands [26] and Korea [17]. A study done in Japan among the elderly showed higher prevalence among the women [14].…”

Prevalence, Incidence and Obstetric Factors’ Impact on Female Urinary Incontinence in Europe: A Systematic Review

“…The most prevalent type of UI was stress UI (SUI), ranging from 13 to 50% [7,11] in the former group of analyzed studies [8] and from 6.4 to 42.2% [9,12] in the latter. The number of women included in the former group ranged from 405 [13] to 27,936 [11] and in the latter from 227 to 142,651 [14,15]. Study populations came from population-based, cross-sectional surveys carried out in the following European countries: Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, The Netherlands, UK and Turkey.…”

The role of anorectal investigations in predicting the outcome of biofeedback in the treatment of faecal incontinence

“…FI can lead to loss of patients' selfesteem and diminished quality of life [3]. Recent evidence has shown little difference in FI incidence between males and females challenging the traditional theory of "stretching of the pelvic floor" during childbirth resulting in female predominance [4][5][6][7]. In most patients, FI can be attributed to more than one causative factors.…”