Assessment of the Severity of Urinary Incontinence Among Elderly Women

Background: The International Continence Society (ICS) defines urinary incontinence (UI) as the complaint of any involuntary leakage of urine. It is a distressing and debilitating condition that is becoming more prevalent as our population ages. Pathophysiology of urinary incontinence during menopause the ovaries stop producing considerable quantities of estrogen; hence the symptoms and problems associated with estrogen deficiency occur gradually. Among the changes is reduction in the integrity of the pelvic floor, changes in the rate of different types of collagens and the preferential atrophy of type II muscle fibers, atrophy of urinary-genital tract which may be associated with problems such as urinary urgency, urinary frequency, nocturia, stress incontinence, urge incontinence, burning upon urination and an increased prevalence of urinary tract infections. Aim of the study: The study aimed to assess severity of urinary incontinence among elderly women. Design: A descriptive study design was utilized in this study. Sample: A purposive sample of 100 women diagnosed with stress urinary incontinence. Setting: gynecological and urological outpatient clinics Beni-Suef university hospital. Tools: (1) A structured interviewing questionnaire sheet was developed by the researcher in the Arabic language. It was containing of two parts; (1) personal characteristics data of the study women such, (2) urinary incontinence history; (2) The International Consultation on Incontinence Modular Questionnaire ICIQ-SF. Results: The mean weight of the studied sample was 82.680±11.8815, mean height was 160.420±2.8610, and mean of BMI was 32.1224±4.47973. It indicates that 42% of the study sample their frequency of urination was every 3-6 hours, 75% of them had a completely empty bladder after voiding, 37% did not used sanitary towel for urine leakage. Conclusion: Based on the results of the study; It can be concluded that most of elderly women suffer from sever urinary incontinence. Recommendations: Replication of the present study under different circumstances (sampling and setting) is recommended to validate its results.