[Study on severity, status of awareness and therapy regarding urinary incontinence in elderly people from rural areas in Jixian county, Tianjin].

OBJECTIVE: To understand the prevalence of urinary incontinence (UI) and its severity in rural elderly people, as well as to investigate the awareness on UI in the elderly and health-care service seeking behavior. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was carried out in two townships of Jixian county, Tianjin. A total of 743 people aged 60 years and over were selected under cluster sampling method. All the information was collected with a standardized structured questionnaire by face-to-face interview. Prevalence, severity, the awareness on UI in the elderly and their utilization of health-care service for its diagnosis and treatment were analyzed. RESULTS: Prevalence of UI was 33.38% among people aged 60 years and over in two townships of Jixian, higher in females than in males (43.15% vs. 22.75%, χ(2) = 34.70, P < 0.0001). The prevalence rates of UI in 60- age group, 65- age group, 70- age group, 75- age group, 80- age group, 85 - 95 age group were 28.64%, 32.12%, 34.08%, 35.45%, 47.76%, 30.00%, respectively, and increased with age (for trend χ(2) = 2.19, P = 0.029). Stress urinary incontinence (SUI) and urge urinary incontinence (UUI) were mild, while mixed urinary incontinence (MUI) were mainly moderate. The differences of severity of SUI, UUI, MUI between men and women did not show statistical significance (all P > 0.05). In 743 elderly people, more than half of the respondents had never heard of UI (50.20%, 373/743) and only 170(22.88%) elderly people considered UI as a disease. 630 (84.79%) and 665 (89.50%) elderly people in our research group did not know that such condition was curable and preventable. In 248 elderly people with UI, only 12 (4.84%) of them ever seeking community health-care services in the health-care centers or hospitals. For the ones who did visit the centers, the purpose was only to seek for drug treatment. CONCLUSION: Prevalence of UI appeared to be high among the elderly people in rural areas of Jixian county. Most of the elderly people were lack of knowledge about UI that hindered them from seeking for diagnosis and treatment in the clinics, plus the treatment program for UI was not standardized. Knowledge on UI and health care seeking behavior should be popularized and strengthened among elderly people living in the rural areas.

[Study on the prevalence of urinary incontinence and its related factors among elderly in rural areas, Jixian county, Tianjin].

OBJECTIVE: To understand the prevalence of urinary incontinence (UI) and its related factors so as to develop a three-tier program for prevention of the disease. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was carried out in two townships of Jixian county, Tianjin, during July to November 2007. A total of 743 people aged 60 years and over were selected under cluster sampling, and all information were collected with a standardized structured questionnaire by face-to-face interview. All the data were analyzed with multivariate logistic regression method to explore the related factors for UI in the elderly. RESULTS: The overall prevalence of UI was 33.38 percent among people aged 60 years and over in two townships. Risk factors for UI in men would include older age (OR = 1.39), occupation (OR = 5.00), awareness of UI (OR = 1.91), having in chronic respiratory diseases (OR = 2.23), prostate (OR = 11.47), neurological (OR = 11.76), or motor systems (OR = 2.48), while protective factors would include high educational level (taking primary school or below as control group), OR for the junior middle school group appeared to be 0.35, for senior middle school group it was 0.77, and of undergraduate group it was 0.53. Risk factors for UI in women would include older age (OR = 1.31), constipation (OR = 1.46), awareness of UI (OR = 1.94), increased body mass index (when normal weight group served as control group, OR in the overweight group was 1.03 and in the obesity group OR was 1.54), suffering from chronic respiratory diseases (OR = 4.84), diabetes mellitus (OR = 2.36), or motor system diseases (OR = 1.37), more gravidity (OR = 1.03), more parity (OR = 1.02), suffering from perinea laceration (OR = 1.72) and wound infection during delivery (OR = 1.65), while protective factors would include physical exercises (OR = 0.64). CONCLUSION: Prevalence of UI was higher among the elderly people in rural areas of Jixian county, Tianjin. UI in the elderly might have been influenced by various factors which suggesting the intervention strategy should be targeted at those related factors as well as focusing on primary prevention.