Evaluation of a urinary incontinence unit for community-dwelling older adults in Barcelona: implementation and improvement of the perceived impact on daily life, frequency and severity of urinary incontinence.
BACKGROUND
Urinary incontinence >(UI) is one of the most important and frequent geriatric syndromes. It is considered a silent but great social problem. Conservative management of UI, in a multidisciplinary and comprehensive approach, has been successful in previous studies, leading to a partial or total remission of the syndrome.


OBJECTIVE
To investigate the acceptance of a geriatric incontinence unit and the effect of a multidimensional intervention on the improvement of UI regarding frequency, severity and perceived impact on daily life of community-dwelling older adults.


METHODS
Prospective study with a multifactorial intervention with pre-post analyses. 92 patients aged 60 years and over were assessed for UI at an outpatient geriatric unit. They received an individualized conservative treatment and were followed up for 3 months. The International Consultation on Incontinence modular Questionnaire-Short Form (ICIQ-SF) was translated into Catalan. The difference of the perceived impact on the daily life before and 3 months after treatment was used as a primary outcome. The global score and the subscores on frequency and severity were used as secondary outcomes.


RESULTS
77.2% patients had an improvement in their perceived impact of UI on daily life. Concerning the ICIQ-SF global score, 82.6% improved. There was a significant improvement of about 30% in all dimensions measured. Many patients pointed out that being able to talk about the problem with a healthcare professional, in some cases for the first time, was very important to them.


CONCLUSIONS
A conservative and multidisciplinary management of UI improved the impact of UI on daily life among comorbid geriatric patients. The Catalan ICIQ-SF was successfully implemented. Outpatient geriatric incontinence units seem to be effective and should be implemented to improve detection and management of this important geriatric syndrome.
Padrós
Jaume
J
Unitat de Valoració Geriàtrica, Integral-Mutuam, Ausiàs Marc 39, 08010, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.
Peris
Teresa
T
Salvà
Antoni
A
Denkinger
Michael D
MD
Coll-Planas
Laura
L
D000203:Activities of Daily Living / Q000523:psychology; D000223:Adaptation, Psychological; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000554:Ambulatory Care Facilities / Q000458:organization & administration*; D017281:Cost of Illness; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010348:Patient Care Team; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology; D013030:Spain; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014549:Urinary Incontinence / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology / Q000523:psychology / Q000534:rehabilitation*