Introduction: Urinary incontinence (UI) is any involuntary leakage of urine. It is a common and distressing problem, which may have a large impact of quality of life.
Aim: To assess the prevalence of UI in people over the age of 65.
Materials and methods: Participants were 4308 elderly individuals (1292 men and 3016 women) with an average age of 78+/-8 years.
Results: UI was detected in 1953 patients (45,3%), including urgent UI in 25,8%, stress UI in 12,3% and mixed UI in 8,3% cases. There was a clear tendency to higher incidence of all types of UI with age. Our data show the need for mandatory consultation with a urologist for all person over the age of 65.
Keywords: stress urinary incontinence; the prevalence of urinary incontinence; urgent urinary incontinence; urinary incontinence in the elderly.