Urinary incontinence in spinal cord injured individuals 10-45 years after injury.

STUDY DESIGN

Epidemiological follow-up study.

OBJECTIVE

To evaluate urinary incontinence and its management in a population of individuals with long-term spinal cord injury (SCI).

SETTING

Clinic for Spinal Cord Injuries and Department of Urology, Copenhagen University Hospital, Rigshospitalet, Denmark.

METHODS

Retrospective data collection from the patient records and information from a follow-up questionnaire of traumatic SCI individuals at least 10 years after injury. A total of 236 patients participated (84.6% response), 82% males and 18% females, 47% tetraplegic and 53% paraplegic, injured between 1956 and 1990. Age at the time of follow-up was 28-84 years (mean 50.5 years). Years of follow-up were 10-45 years (mean 24.1 years).

RESULTS

A total of 43% of the participants reported incontinence from less than once a week to daily. There was a significant linear trend across the groups of incontinence with more paraplegics reporting daily incontinence compared with tetraplegics. A higher proportion of participants using clean intermittent catheterization reported incontinence (56%) compared with participants using other bladder-emptying methods. Only 19% of the participants used medication for the management of incontinence.

CONCLUSION

Urinary incontinence is a common problem in individuals with SCI. Only a minority of individuals used medication for the treatment of incontinence.

SPONSORSHIP

This study was carried out as a part of the primary author's PhD study, financed by the Medicon Valley Academy and Coloplast A/S.