GERIATRIC INCONTINENCE

Regardless of age, mobility, mentation, or institutionalization, incon tinence is never normal. By attenuating physiologic reserve, aging inc reases the Likelihood of becoming incontinent in the setting of additi onal physiologic, pharmacologic, or pathologic insults. Because many o f these problems lie outside the urinary tract, so too must the diagno stic and therapeutic focus. Incontinence is treatable and often curabl e at all ages but the approach must differ significantly from that use d in younger patients.