There has been an increase in the number of people living with adult incontinence, a US study suggests.

Researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham analysed data on 17,850 adults, aged 20 or older, who took part in the National Health and Nutritional Examination Survey between 2001 and 2008.

Overall, 51.1 per cent of women and 13.9 per cent of men said they had been affected by adult incontinence during the previous 12 months.

The study also revealed that the prevalence of urinary incontinence increased among adults of both sexes.

Prevalence in women rose from 49.5 per cent in 2001-02 to 53.4 per cent in 2007-08, and in men from 11.5 per cent to 15.1 per cent.

Publishing their findings in the Journal of Urology, the study authors concluded: "The age standardised prevalence of urinary incontinence increased in men and women from 2001 through 2008.

"Decreasing obesity and diabetes may lessen the burden of urinary incontinence, especially in women."

Researcher Dr Holly Richter also told Reuters news agency that the rate of urinary incontinence may be even higher than reported.

She explained that female incontinence "can be a very embarrassing issue for women and result in the patient denying its existence to friends, family and healthcare providers".