How Common Is Urinary Incontinence?

Here are some numbers about urinary incontinence:¹

• The likelihood of having incontinence increases with age.
• Urinary incontinence is at least twice as common in women as in men.
• Between 3 and 6 out of 10 middle-aged and older women report having any incontinence.
• Between 1 and 4 out of 10 older men report having any incontinence.
• About 1 or 2 out of 10 middle-aged and older women report having daily urinary incontinence.
• Fewer than 1 out of 10 older men report having daily urinary incontinence.
• White women are more likely to have stress urinary incontinence compared to African-American and Asian women.

• Up to 3 out of 10 older adults living at home have problems with urinary incontinence.²
• About 3 out of 10 older adults in the hospital have incontinence.²
• About 5 out of 10 older adults living in nursing homes or other long-term care facilities have incontinence.²

References

Citations

1. Chapple CR, Milson I (2012). Urinary incontinence and pelvic prolapse: Epidemiology and pathophysiology. In AJ Wein et al., eds., Campbell-Walsh Urology, 10th ed., vol. 3, pp. 1871–1895. Philadelphia: Saunders.

2. Resnick, NM (2012). Incontinence. In L Goldman, A Shafer, eds., Goldman's Cecil Medicine, 24th ed., pp. 110–114. Philadelphia: Saunders.

Credits

By	Healthwise Staff
Primary Medical Reviewer	E. Gregory Thompson, MD - Internal Medicine
Specialist Medical Reviewer	Avery L. Seifert, MD - Urology
Last Revised	September 11, 2012