1999 rerun of the 1996 German Urinary Incontinence Survey: will doctors ever ask?

The German Incontinence Relief Society and supporting companies have been conducting numerous urinary incontinence awareness and continuing medical education campaigns. However, comparison of results from an epidemiologic survey involving 6,607 over-50-year-old patients in 1996 and a similar investigation among 6,481 patients in the same age group in 1999 reveals that German physicians are now even less likely to address this taboo subject, thus withholding appropriate care from incontinent patients. Possible reasons for this alarming development include the financial restraints imposed on German doctors in private practice and a lack of appreciation of the problems associated with incontinence among health policymakers.