“It can always happen”: The impact of urinary incontinence on elderly men and women

Abstract

Objective. To determine the impact of urinary incontinence (UI) on the quality of life of the elderly in the general population and to identify factors with the greatest effect. Design. Qualitative and quantitative analyses of interview data. Setting . Patients from the nine family practices of the Nijmegen University Research Network. Subjects. Independently living patients aged 60 and over. Main outcome measures. All independently living patients aged 60 and over with uncomplicated UI were interviewed at home using the Incontinence Impact Questionnaire and open-ended questions. Results. In total, 56 men and 314 women were interviewed. A majority do not have such an impact. In the Incontinence Impact Questionnaire (IIQ) emotional well-being was most affected. Half to one-third of the patients felt nervous, embarrassed, or frustrated because of their incontinence. In the social domain ''clothing'' and ''fear of odour'' scored the highest impact. The most affected practical consequence in the IIQ was ''going to places where you are not sure about the availability of a toilet'' followed by ''travelling longer than 20 minutes'' and ''entertainment''. Men reported higher impact scores than women, despite the fact that incontinence was less severe in men. The most important effect of incontinence reported in men was ''being out of control'' while most women considered ''feeling impelled to take several precautions'' to be the most important consequence of UI. Conclusion. UI affects nearly half of patients, particularly as regards their emotional wellbeing and in public activities. Men experienced more impact compared with women and experienced loss of control more often than women.

Psychological perspectives in urinary incontinence: a metasynthesis

“…People with incontinence discussed 'designing their life around it' 29 , using protection, taking precautions or preventing accidents in a number of different ways [28][29][30][31][32]37 .…”

“…with children was also restricted. Even coughing, sneezing or raising one's voice could cause an accident, and this was quite a problem in the public setting 28,30,37 . Social roles were greatly restricted: working, going to visit friends, going to the cinema or shopping 31 were all activities that were found to be problematic.…”

“…Some women had only a minor problem that they had 'control over'; however, others saw their problem as something they could not control, leading to desperation, powerlessness and anger 28,36,37 . Some of those experiencing incontinence felt that it reflected a lack of control in their life more generally 30 , as they were not able to control their own bodily functions 35 .…”

Psychocultural meanings of urinary incontinence in women: a review

“…Considering people over 60 years old, according to the evaluation of quality of life measured by the Incontinence Impact Questionnaire (IIQ), emotional factors were shown to be the most affected. Nearly one third of the respondents mentioned nervousness, shame or frustration because of their UI; the social dominance and fear of the odor scored as highest impac (3) , since urinary loss restricts contact with co-workers (4) and physical proximity with people in general (5) .…”

Sexually dimorphic urethral activity in response to pharmacological activation of 5-HT1A receptors in the rat

“…men are sometimes severely afflicted with SUI (27) and suffer greater emotional impacts than women (44). Currently, duloxetine has not been approved for treating SUI in men, but the drug has been used off label in some pilot studies; the studies (17,40,48) showed that the drug may produce a marked improvement in men with urinary incontinence.…”