The Urinary incontinence: main risk factors and their effects in the elderly population

Abstract

Urinary Incontinence is the involuntary loss of urine that causes discomfort and impairment in the quality of life of patients, having some different classifications: effort, urgency or mixed. Due to the relevance of this very prevalent disease in the elderly population, considered one of the giants of Geriatrics, the article aims to review the main aspects of urinary incontinence and relate them to its main risk factors present in the literature. An integrative review was carried out in the LILACS and MEDLINE databases, between 2017 and 2022, using descriptors such as "urinary incontinence", "risk factors" and "elderly", combined by the Boolean operator AND, excluding, through the NOT operator, " kids and adults". Nine articles were included in the synthesis. Advanced age, female gender, and the presence of comorbidities, such as cognitive impairment and mobility difficulties, have been shown to be the main risk factors related to the disease. Urinary incontinence can trigger complications in the elderly, such as emotional problems, fecal incontinence, falls and social isolation.