Alaa El-Gharib

and 3 more

Objectives: Urinary incontinence (UI) is a common disorder that particularly affects the elderly population worldwide. UI can be associated with poor quality of life (QOL) in this vulnerable population, as it leads to limitation in both their physical and social activities of daily life. Additionally, it has a psychological and economic burden on individuals, health care services and society. This study was performed to measure the frequency of UI among the elderly and to determine its impact on the overall QOL, physical performance and activities of daily living. Participants and Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed in four Primary Health Care centres (PHCs) of El-Obour City. Data collection was done weekly on randomly chosen days. All elders aged 60 or above, who attended the PHCs on those days, were included. Results: The overall frequency of UI was 38% among the studied elderly. UI ranged from mild (12.3%) to moderate (57.9%) and severe (29.8%). Among incontinent participants, the frequency in men was 47.4% and in women was 52.6%. The frequency of stress, urge, mixed and other UI were 7%, 33.3%, 40.4% and 19.3% respectively. Incontinent elderly had significantly lower QOL as regards mental and physical indices than their continent counterparts. UI severity was inversely related to physical performance. Conclusion: UI has a high-frequency rate among the elderly population, and has a significant impact on all aspects of QOL especially their physical performance. Keywords: Urinary Incontinence, ICIQ, Physical Performance, Quality of Life, elderly.