Differences in Prevalence of Urinary Incontinence by Race/Ethnicity
Open Access
- 1 January 2006
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Ovid Technologies (Wolters Kluwer Health) in Journal of Urology
- Vol. 175 (1), 259-264
- https://doi.org/10.1016/s0022-5347(05)00039-x
Abstract
Purpose: We compared the prevalence of urinary incontinence by type among white, black, Hispanic and Asian-American women. Materials and Methods: The RRISK is a population based cohort study of 2,109 randomly selected middle-aged and older women. Incontinence and other variables were assessed by self-report questionnaires and in person interviews. Labor and delivery and surgical data were abstracted from medical records archived since 1946. Logistic regression was used to estimate the OR with 95% CIs for incontinence while adjusting for covariates. Results: The age adjusted prevalence of weekly incontinence was highest among Hispanic women, followed by white, black and Asian-American women (36%, 30%, 25% and 19%, respectively, p <0.001). Type of incontinence also differed among groups, with weekly stress incontinence prevalence being 18%, 15%, 8% and 8% (p <0.001), and weekly urge incontinence prevalence being 10%, 9%, 14% and 7% (p <0.001). After adjustment for age, parity, hysterectomy, estrogen use, body mass, menopausal status and diabetes, the risk of stress incontinence remained significantly lower in black (adjusted OR 0.36, 95% CI 0.23–0.57) and Asian-American (adjusted OR 0.54, 95% CI 0.34–0.86) women compared to white women. In contrast, the risk of urge incontinence was similar in black (adjusted OR 1.19, 95% CI 0.79–1.81) and Asian-American (adjusted OR 0.86, 95% CI 0.52–1.43) women compared to white women. Conclusions: Significant differences in the adjusted risk of stress incontinence among Hispanic, white, black and Asian-American women suggest the presence of additional, as yet unrecognized, risk or protective factors for stress incontinence.Keywords
This publication has 21 references indexed in Scilit:
- Reproducibility and validity of simple questions to identify urinary incontinence in elderly womenActa Obstetricia et Gynecologica Scandinavica, 2004
- Urinary Incontinence in Elderly Women: Findings From the Health, Aging, and Body Composition StudyObstetrics & Gynecology, 2004
- Urinary incontinence and depression in middle-aged United States womenObstetrics & Gynecology, 2003
- Urinary incontinence predictors and life impact in ethnically diverse perimenopausal womenObstetrics & Gynecology, 2002
- Age- and type-dependent effects of parity on urinary incontinence: the Norwegian EPINCONT studyObstetrics & Gynecology, 2001
- Racial differences in the structure and function of the stress urinary continence mechanismObstetrics & Gynecology, 2000
- The prevalence of urinary incontinence or prolapse among white and Hispanic womenAmerican Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 1996
- Diagnostic classification of female urinary incontinence: An epidemiological survey corrected for validityJournal of Clinical Epidemiology, 1995
- Overcoming the absence of socioeconomic data in medical records: validation and application of a census-based methodology.American Journal of Public Health, 1992
- Modeling and variable selection in epidemiologic analysis.American Journal of Public Health, 1989