Factors Affecting Urinary Incontinence in Elderly People Living in the Community

This cross-sectional study identifies the gender-specific factors related to urinary incontinence in the community-dwelling elderly. From June 1st to July 15th, 2017, 195 community-dwelling elderly people in two districts of B City completed a structured questionnaire. A urinary incontinence condition scale originally developed by Hendrickson’s (1981) and adapted by Lee(1993), a self-efficacy scale translated by Oh(1993) and originally developed by Sherer et al.(1982), and Korean Version of Barthel ADL (BADL) index were used. Age, subjective health status, exercise, activities of daily living and self-efficacy were found to be the factors related to urinary incontinence in elderly males. By contrast, exercise, BMI, activities of daily living, number of medications and self-efficacy were the factors relevant to urinary incontinence in elderly females. 52.3% of all subjects had experienced urinary incontinence, with the mild case accounting for the highest percentage (71.6%). Notably the 1 comparative analysis findings on the factors inflencing the urinary incontinence in elderly males, which has not been well-documented in comparison to that in elderly females, will be conducive to raising the awareness of the increasing urinary incontinence in elderly males.