Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Comparative Study
. 2006 Jan;175(1):259-64.
doi: 10.1016/S0022-5347(05)00039-X.

Differences in prevalence of urinary incontinence by race/ethnicity

David H Thom  1 , Stephen K van den Eeden, Arona I Ragins, Christina Wassel-Fyr, Eric Vittinghof, Leslee L Subak, Jeanette S Brown
Affiliations
Comparative Study

Differences in prevalence of urinary incontinence by race/ethnicity

David H Thom et al. J Urol. 2006 Jan.

Abstract

Purpose: We compared the prevalence of urinary incontinence by type among white, black, Hispanic and Asian-American women.

Materials and methods: The RRISK is a population based cohort study of 2,109 randomly selected middle-aged and older women. Incontinence and other variables were assessed by self-report questionnaires and in person interviews. Labor and delivery and surgical data were abstracted from medical records archived since 1946. Logistic regression was used to estimate the OR with 95% CIs for incontinence while adjusting for covariates.

Results: The age adjusted prevalence of weekly incontinence was highest among Hispanic women, followed by white, black and Asian-American women (36%, 30%, 25% and 19%, respectively, p <0.001). Type of incontinence also differed among groups, with weekly stress incontinence prevalence being 18%, 15%, 8% and 8% (p <0.001), and weekly urge incontinence prevalence being 10%, 9%, 14% and 7% (p <0.001). After adjustment for age, parity, hysterectomy, estrogen use, body mass, menopausal status and diabetes, the risk of stress incontinence remained significantly lower in black (adjusted OR 0.36, 95% CI 0.23-0.57) and Asian-American (adjusted OR 0.54, 95% CI 0.34-0.86) women compared to white women. In contrast, the risk of urge incontinence was similar in black (adjusted OR 1.19, 95% CI 0.79-1.81) and Asian-American (adjusted OR 0.86, 95% CI 0.52-1.43) women compared to white women.

Conclusions: Significant differences in the adjusted risk of stress incontinence among Hispanic, white, black and Asian-American women suggest the presence of additional, as yet unrecognized, risk or protective factors for stress incontinence.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

F<sc>ig</sc> 1
Fig 1
Flowchart showing recruitment of subjects for RRISK
F<sc>ig</sc> 2
Fig 2
Prevalence of weekly urinary incontinence by type in each racial/ethnic group, adjusted for age. Dark blue indicates any incontinence, red stress incontinence and yellow urge incontinence.
F<sc>ig</sc>. 3
Fig. 3
Prevalence of urinary incontinence by frequency in each racial/ethnic group after adjustment for potential effect of response bias. Dark blue indicates any incontinence in last 12 months, red incontinence at least once per month, yellow incontinence at least once per week and light blue daily incontinence.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Nygaard I, Turvey C, Burns TL, Crischilles E, Wallace R. Urinary incontinence and depression in middle-aged United States women. Obstet Gynecol. 2003;101:149. - PubMed
    1. Fultz NH, Herzog AR, Raghunathan TE, Wallace RB, Diokno AC. Prevalence and severity of urinary incontinence in older African American and Caucasian women. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 1999;54:M299. - PubMed
    1. Burgio KL, Matthews KA, Engel BT. Prevalence, incidence and correlates of urinary incontinence in healthy, middle-aged women. J Urol. 1991;146:1255. - PubMed
    1. Duong TH, Korn AP. A comparison of urinary incontinence among African American, Asian-American, Hispanic and white women. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2001;184:1083. - PubMed
    1. Mattox TF, Bhatia NN. The prevalence of urinary incontinence or prolapse among white and Hispanic women. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 1996;174:646. - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources