title: Epidemiology and natural history of urinary incontinence in women.
abstract: Understanding the epidemiology (distribution and determinants) of urinary incontinence (UI), as well as its natural history is a very important issue. In this article, we discuss prevalence, incidence, natural history, and the variations that may be related to race and ethnicity. We focus on epidemiologic population comprising community-dwelling women who are not institutionalized. Our review clearly shows that there is a lack of advanced epidemiologic analyses. Variables that better characterize UI include frequency measure, quantity of urine loss, duration, type, and severity. These factors should be incorporated into basic study design so that more advanced and informative analyses may be conducted.
authors.affiliation: Section for General Practice, Department of Public Health and Primary Health Care, University of Bergen, Bergen, Norway. steinar.hunskar@isf.ub.no
authors.forename: Steinar
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hunskaar
authors.forename: Kathryn
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Burgio
authors.forename: Ananias
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Diokno
authors.forename: A Regula
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Herzog
authors.forename: Kelm
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hjälmås
authors.forename: Marie Carmela
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Lapitan
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015340:Epidemiologic Research Design; D005006:Ethnicity; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D044469:Racial Groups; D014549:Urinary Incontinence / Q000145:classification / Q000453:epidemiology*