“This presents a significant financial and emotional burden to the individual and society,” said Yelena Gorina, a statistician and the study’s lead author. Yet a sense of shame prevents seniors from talking about incontinence with physicians. And they often don’t ask.
Urinary leakage is the most common variety, affecting more than four out of 10 seniors living in their own homes or apartments, the study reports. While many cases are mild, 24 percent of older adults have moderate or severe urinary incontinence that deserves medical attention. This problem affects women, whose pelvic floor muscles have often been weakened by childbirth, twice as often as it does men.
Bowel incontinence is also surprisingly prevalent, affecting more than one out of every six seniors who live in their own homes or apartments. Men and women are equally affected.
As expected, rates of incontinence rise as adults become older and more frail, affecting 39 percent of assisted-living residents, 45 percent of home health care recipients and 76 percent of seniors receiving long-term care in nursing homes, the new report finds.
Experts say they hope the study will help people appreciate the magnitude of incontinence in the older population.
“This is a huge issue that can have just as much impact on seniors’ quality of life as diabetes and even stroke,” said Dr. Alayne Markland, an associate professor of geriatrics at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Many older adults and caregivers believe incontinence is an inevitable consequence of aging. It isn’t. Effective treatments are available, and “in most cases, clinicians working with patients are able to improve symptoms or even resolve the problem,” said Dr. Tomas Griebling, a professor of urology at the University of Kansas.
Treatments range from physical therapy (Kegel exercises and electrical simulation) to behavior changes (going to the bathroom on a regular schedule, eating more fiber, drinking less alcohol and caffeine, losing weight and exercising more regularly) to drug therapy, Botox injections, inserted or implanted medical devices, and surgery.