Published in:
01-02-2017
Factors related to urinary incontinence among the Malaysian elderly
Published in: The journal of nutrition, health & aging | Issue 2/2017
Login to get accessAbstract
Background
Urinary incontinence is a prevalent condition in the elderly that is the spontaneous leakage of urine. It is an age-related problem and increases especially in people aged above 65 years. It can cause many psychological, behavioral, biological, economic and social effects. The treatment of urinary incontinence can reduce morbidity and mortality. Thus, this study aimed to determine the effects of variables including age, ethnicity, gender, education, marital status, body weight, blood elements and nutritional parameters on urinary incontinence among the Malaysian elderly.
Methods
The study was on 2322 non-institutionalized Malaysian elderly. The hierarchy logistic regression analysis was applied to estimate the risk of independent variables for urinary incontinence among respondents.
Results
The findings indicated that approximately 3.80% of subjects had urinary incontinence. In addition, constipation was found a significant factor that increased the risk of urinary incontinence in samples (p=0.006; OR=3.77). The increase in dietary monounsaturated fat (p=0.038; OR=0.59) and plasma triglyceride levels (p=0.029; OR=0.56) significantly reduced the risk of incontinence in subjects. Many of suspected variables including socio-demographic factors, diseases, nutritional minerals, blood components and body weight were non-relevant factors to urinary incontinence in respondents.
Conclusions
Constipation increased the risk of urinary incontinence in subjects, and increase in dietary monounsaturated fat and plasma triglyceride levels decreased the risk.