The incidence of urinary incontinence across Asian, black, and white women in the United States.
OBJECTIVE
We calculated incidence rates of urinary incontinence by incontinence frequency and type over 4 years in Asian, black, and white women in the United States.


METHODS
Prospective analyses included 76,724 participants aged 37-79 years in the Nurses' Health Study cohorts with no incontinence at baseline.


RESULTS
The 4-year incidence of incontinence at least monthly was higher in white women (7.3/100 person-years) compared with Asian (5.7/100 person-years; P = .003) and black women (4.8/100 person-years; P < .001). The incidence of at least weekly stress incontinence was significantly lower in black compared with white women (0.1 vs 0.8 per 100 person-years; P < .001). The difference between black and white women in the incidence of any incontinence and stress incontinence remained significant after adjusting for known risk factors (P < .001 for both).


CONCLUSIONS
Urinary incontinence incidence differs by race. Studies to confirm these results and better understand underlying mechanisms are needed.
Townsend
Mary K
MK
Channing Laboratory, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA. mary.townsend@channing.harvard.edu
Curhan
Gary C
GC
Resnick
Neil M
NM
Grodstein
Francine
F
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001213:Asian / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D044383:Black People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008875:Middle Aged; D011446:Prospective Studies; D044469:Racial Groups / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012307:Risk Factors; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology; D014549:Urinary Incontinence / Q000208:ethnology*; D044465:White People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D001741:Black or African American