title: The prevalence of adult female urinary incontinence in Hong Kong Chinese.
abstract: This was a community-based study to evaluate the prevalence and characteristics of female urinary incontinence in women aged 18 and above in the Shatin District of Hong Kong. Of a total of 1018 female households contacted, 362 individuals were successfully interviewed and 123 women (34%) reported they had experienced at least one episode of urinary incontinence as adults. Of these, 18.5% reported persistent incontinence and 15.5% reported absence of incontinence after a single episode of urine loss. The risk factors for incontinence revealed by this study were body mass index and parity. Women who had never been incontinent had a lower body mass index and were usually nulliparous. Most of the respondents (43.9%) who had urinary incontinence considered the condition to be a minor problem and did not seek professional advice. This investigation indicates that a territory-wide study should be carried out to determine the incidence of urinary incontinence throughout Hong Kong.
authors.forename: S S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Ma
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D015992:Body Mass Index; D005260:Female; D006723:Hong Kong / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008875:Middle Aged; D010298:Parity; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D014549:Urinary Incontinence / Q000453:epidemiology*