A major study has suggested that urinary incontinence is a common condition in older women but it may be preventable or treatable in a lot of cases.  

In a ten-year follow up of nearly 7,000 generally healthy women over the age of 70, researchers from Newcastle University found that more than 1 in 4 reported urinary leakage as a problem some of the time or often.  

However, they also found that while a further 15% of women developed urinary incontinence during almost ten years of follow up, symptoms also resolved in other women over time.  

The findings also show that incontinence was associated with being overweight, dysuria and with falls.  

But in contrast to other studies of incontinence in younger women, parity was not strongly associated with the development of incontinence among older women in their study.  

Researchers from the Centre for Gender, Health and Ageing at the University of Newcastle, said
‘At these older ages, other gynaecological factors, including gynaecological surgery, appear to be stronger predictors of later continence problems.’ 

They added: ‘Strong associations between BMI, dysuria and constipation indicate key opportunities to prevent incontinence among older women.’

Visit Allanda for more help and advice about incontinence.