Urinary Incontinence in the Geriatric Population of an Acute Care Hospital

Abstract

To determine the incidence, prevalence, and duration of urinary incontinence, a survey was undertaken of all patients aged 65 and over admitted to a university hospital during a six-week period. The daily prevalence of incontinence, which was 19 per cent for the entire study population, was highly variable from one nursing unit to another. Twenty-five per cent of those on the acute care general medical units and 17 per cent of those on the general surgical units were incontinent on any given day. The burn unit had the highest daily prevalence of incontinence (75 per cent). The incidence of incontinence per hospital stay, which was determined for the 315 patients who were followed from admission to discharge, was 19 per cent. Of the 348 patients discharged to home during the survey period, 10.9 per cent were incontinent within the 24 hours prior to leaving the hospital, and, of the 27 referred to another institution, 48 per cent had been incontinent during that interval. The authors conclude that a substantial proportion of geriatric patients are incontinent at some stage during their hospital stays.

A Prospective Cohort Study of Geriatric Syndromes Among Older Medical Patients Admitted to Acute Care Hospitals

“…33 The proportion of patients in this study who experienced delirium, in-hospital falls, decline in ability to perform ADLs, prevalence of urinary incontinence during hospital stay, and new onset of incontinence during hospitalization is broadly consistent with findings from previous single-syndrome studies, although differences in study populations and definitions of syndromes make precise comparisons difficult. [8][9][10]17,[34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45] Other findings are different from those reported in the literature, including a lower prevalence of pressure ulcer at discharge (5.7%) than the 15% to 17% reported in other studies, 46-49 a higher rate of new falls (3.6%) than the 1.9% cumulative incidence reported in one study, 17 and a higher prevalence of bladder incontinence (44%) in the premorbid period than the 22% reported previously. 17 The 0.5% new bowel incontinence during hospitalization in 13,729 patients admitted to 81 community and university hospitals in Italy 17 is lower than the 3.1% new incontinence at discharge found in the current study.…”

Prevention of urinary incontinence in older people

“…The incidence increases with age and it is more common in women [ 5]. It affects 25–35% of older patients admitted to acute hospitals [ 1, 10–13].…”

Discovering older women's experience of urinary incontinence

“…Despite the fact that accurate diagnosis and treatment can provide a cure or improvement in the vast majority of cases (Brink, 1980), 30 to 50% of people with UI avoid seeking medical care for themselves (Mitteness, 1987;Simons, 1985). Nurses are often identified as managers of U1 but they frequently lack the knowledge to provide adequate interventions (Sullivan & Lindsay, 1984). If the knowledge base is acquired, nursing has the potential to enhance personal functioning through continence care (Jirovec, 1990).…”