Home > Encyclopedia of Medicine > Urinary Incontinence

Definition

Urinary incontinence is unintentional loss of urine that is sufficient enough in frequency and amount to cause physical and/or emotional distress in the person experiencing it.

Description

Approximately 13 million Americans suffer from urinary incontinence. Women are affected by the disorder more frequently than are men; one in 10 women under age 65 suffer from urinary incontinence. Older Americans, too, are more prone to the condition. Twenty percent of Americans over age 65 are incontinent.

There are five major categories of urinary incontinence: overflow, stress, urge, functional, and reflex.

• Overflow incontinence. Overflow incontinence is caused by bladder dysfunction. Individuals with this type of incontinence have an obstruction to the bladder or urethra, or a bladder that doesn't contract properly. As a result,...