Nocturnal incontinence in women: A hidden problem

Purpose: We determined the prevalence of nocturnal incontinence and its ass ociation with other storage symptoms in a community population of women Materials and Methods: We mailed the validated self-reporting Bristol femal e lower urinary tract symptom questionnaire to all 2,641 women 19 years old or older registered at a family physician practice in a major British city and analyzed the results. Main outcome measures were the prevalence of noc turnal incontinence and its correlation with other storage symptoms. Results: A total of 2,075 completed questionnaires (80%) were returned. The overall prevalence of nocturnal incontinence was 5.8%. However, the majori ty of women had nocturnal incontinence only occasionally and only 1% had it more than a third of the time. The prevalence of nocturnal incontinence in creased in a linear fashion with age (chi-square test for linear trend p <0 .005). Of the women with nocturnal incontinence 69% considered it troubleso me. The odds of nocturnal incontinence were significantly increased when ur ge and stress incontinence, incontinence with no obvious cause, urgency, st raining and nocturia were reported. Conclusions: Nocturnal incontinence in women is more common than generally supposed and troublesome. The rate of nocturnal incontinence increases with coexisting storage symptoms.