Prevalence of urinary incontinence and its relationship with health status.

A postal survey of two random samples of adult populations within two health authorities in the UK was undertaken during 1994. One health authority had an established continence advisory service (HA1) and the other one did not have a continence advisory service (HA2). A total of 12,529 patients (HA1, 6319; HA2, 6210) were mailed a structured questionnaire and 53% (n = 6139) returned completed questionnaires. A point prevalence of current urinary incontinence of 9% (n = 519, 95% CI, or confidence interval, from 7.9% to 9.3%) was found. A large number of people within the populations had experienced urinary incontinence at some time during their adult years (23%, n = 1427, 95% CI from 22.2% to 24.3%). People who were incontinent had a significantly lower health status than people who were continent (mean scores across all eight domains of the Short Form 36, SF36, P < 0.0001), indicative of greater health and social care needs. The prevalence of urinary incontinence in the adult populations of two communities indicates that it is a sizeable public health and primary healthcare issue.