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
. 2007 Aug;197(2):167.e1-5.
doi: 10.1016/j.ajog.2007.03.041.

Incidence and remission of urinary incontinence in middle-aged women

Mary K Townsend  1 , Kim N Danforth, Karen L Lifford, Bernard Rosner, Gary C Curhan, Neil M Resnick, Francine Grodstein
Affiliations

Incidence and remission of urinary incontinence in middle-aged women

Mary K Townsend et al. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2007 Aug.

Abstract

Objective: The objective of the study was to describe changes in urinary incontinence in middle-aged women.

Study design: A prospective analysis of 64,650 women aged 36-55 years in the Nurses' Health Study II. Participants reported urine leaking in 2001 and 2003. Two-year incidence and remission proportions were estimated.

Results: The 2-year incidence of incontinence was 13.7%. Incidence generally increased through age 50 years and then declined slightly in older women. Among women with incident incontinence at least weekly, the incidence of stress incontinence increased through age 50 years (2-year incidence 1.7%), and the incidence of urge incontinence was stable across age groups (2-year incidence 0.4%). Also, a minority (38%) mentioned leaking to their physician. Complete remission of symptoms occurred in 13.9% of women with incontinence at baseline.

Conclusion: We found that incontinence occurs frequently in middle-aged women. Yet few women mentioned incontinence to their physicians; thus, it may be important to initiate conversations about urinary symptoms even among younger patients.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Hunskaar S, Arnold EP, Burgio K, Diokno AC, Herzog AR, Mallett VT. Epidemiology and natural history of urinary incontinence. Int Urogynecol J Pelvic Floor Dysfunct. 2000;11:301–19. - PubMed
    1. Hunskaar S, Burgio K, Diokno A, Herzog AR, Hjalmas K, Lapitan MC. Epidemiology and natural history of urinary incontinence in women. Urology. 2003;62(4 Suppl 1):16–23. - PubMed
    1. Grodstein F, Fretts R, Lifford K, Resnick N, Curhan G. Association of age, race, and obstetric history with urinary symptoms among women in the Nurses’ Health Study. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2003;189:428–34. - PubMed
    1. Sandvik H, Hunskaar S, Seim A, Hermstad R, Vanvik A, Bratt H. Validation of a severity index in female urinary incontinence and its implementation in an epidemiological survey. J Epidemiol Community Health. 1993;47:497–9. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Hannestad YS, Rortveit G, Sandvik H, Hunskaar S. A community-based epidemiological survey of female urinary incontinence: the Norwegian EPINCONT study. Epidemiology of Incontinence in the County of Nord-Trondelag. J Clin Epidemiol. 2000;53:1150–7. - PubMed

Publication types