Urinary Incontinence Among the Middle-Aged and Senior Members of a Rural Community

We investigated the prevalence of, and factors in, urinary incontinence among the people of middle to advanced age, using a yes/no questionnaire. The total number of respondents was 4, 020 (1, 520 males and 2, 500 females). Seventy-five percent of them were over 65 years old (median age: 67 years). The prevalence of urinary incontinence was 14% for the males and 30% for the females. The data were analyzed by standard statistical tests, such as χ2 tests. The factors closely associated with urinary incontinence were aging, the high urinary frequency in a day, a history of cerebrovascular accidents, difficulty of urination in the males and UTI in the females. Urinary incontinence of the urge type account for 64% of the males and that of the stress type 81% of the females. Fifteen percent of the males and 6% of the females had consulted with physicians or urologists about urinary incontinence. These percentages were lower than those in European countries. However, we suspect that there may be much more latent patients who suffer from urinary incontinence in their daily community life.