Urinary incontinence is not a new condition but is becoming much more talked about, an expert has claimed.

Dr Steve Fleischman, clinical instructor of obstetrics and gynaecology at the Yale University School of Medicine, told ObGyn.net that people are "certainly hearing a lot more" about adult incontinence these days.

He expressed concern at the number of women who do not seek help for female incontinence, despite the treatments that are available.

The expert told the news provider: "In the general routine physical exam I ask them about their urinary symptoms and the most frequent thing they respond to me is, 'well yes of course, but that's just the way it is'.

"And it's not until you really tell them that, 'well it doesn't have to be that way and those are not necessarily normal symptoms and we can do something about it', that women really want to do anything."

Research reported by the NHS Choices website suggests that around 13 per cent of women in the UK are affected by some degree of urinary incontinence, although the true figure is thought to have been masked by women's reluctance to discuss their reliance on incontinence supplies.