Risk factors of urinary frequency among women aged 60 and older in Taiwan.
OBJECTIVE
To assess the associated risk factors for daytime urinary frequency among Taiwanese women aged = 60 years.


METHODS
Daytime urinary frequency, defined by the International Continence Society, and its associated problems were evaluated, and medical history and sociodemographic variables were recorded. A total of 2,410 women were selected by a multistage random sampling method. The factors were assessed by frequency and Pearson's ?2 test using a significance level of < 0.05.


RESULTS
A total of 621 women of those initially selected in the study died before completion of this study. Face-to-face interviews with 1,521 women were completed, producing a response rate of 85.0% (1,521/1,789 women). The prevalence of daytime urinary frequency was significantly related to body mass index (p = 0.018), diabetes mellitus (p = 0.017), hypertension (p = 0.015), previous drug allergy (p = 0.003), smoking (p = 0.005), hormone therapy (p = 0.019), parity (p = 0.019), and urinary incontinence (p = 0.000). However, there was no association between urinary frequency and previous gynecologic surgery, hysterectomy, alcohol consumption, marital status, childbirth, and age of menopause.


CONCLUSIONS
The results of this study showed a relatively high risk of urinary frequency development in patients with urinary incontinence, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, obesity, and smoking that are preventable, modifiable, or controllable. Better quality of health education for these women, drawing their attention to the associated factors, may have an impact on the prevalence of urinary frequency.
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Clinic of Fu Jen Catholic University, Taipei, Taiwan.
Ching-Hung
CH
Hsieh
Wei-Chun
WC
Chang
Ming-I
MI
Hsu
Han-Sun
HS
Chiang
Shao-Tung
ST
Chang
Meng-Chih
MC
Lee
Maw-Sheng
MS
Lee
Kang-Ping
KP
Lu
Tsung-Hsien
TH
Su
Shu-Hsin
SH
Lee
Fu-Min
FM
Chen
D000328:Adult; D015992:Body Mass Index; D002940:Circadian Rhythm; D048909:Diabetes Complications / Q000453:epidemiology*; D053207:Diurnal Enuresis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D004342:Drug Hypersensitivity / Q000453:epidemiology; D015914:Estrogen Replacement Therapy / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000453:epidemiology*; D010298:Parity; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D012907:Smoking / Q000453:epidemiology; D013624:Taiwan / Q000453:epidemiology; D014555:Urination Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*