Urgency, urge incontinence and voiding symptoms in men and women aged 70 years and over

Objective To evaluate the prevalence of urgency, urge incontinence and voiding symptoms. and their associations in older men and women. Subjects and methods A population-based cross-sectional survey was conducted involving 171 men and 227 women aged greater than or equal to 70 years. The data were collected by interview, with a response rate of 92.8%. Voiding symptoms were defined as weakened and/or intermittent stream. The prevalence of urgency, urge incontinence and voiding symptoms were calculated for men and women aged 70-79 and greater than or equal to 80 years. Logistic regression models were used to examine the association of voiding symptoms with urgency, with or without incontinence, adjusted in the separate models for age and in the combined model also for gender. Results The prevalence of urge incontinence was higher than urgency alone in both men and women (23.9% vs 9.8% and 36.4% vs 8.6%, respectively); 71.9% of the men and 48.3% of the women reported voiding symptoms (P < 0.001). Men and women with voiding symptoms were both significantly more likely to report urgency with or without incontinence than those with no voiding symptoms (odds ratio 3.49, 95% confidence interval 1.42-8.57, and 2.34, 1.31-4.17, respectively). Age had no independent effect in men, and in women the effect was marginal. In the combined model female gender (1.98, 1.25-3.16) increased the risk of urgency with or without incontinence. Conclusion Urgency, urge incontinence and voiding symptoms are common and associated with each other in older men and women; the association is stronger in men. Women are at greater risk of having urgency with or without incontinence. Because the study was cross-sectional a causal relationship cannot be confirmed.