Urinary incontinence and quality of life in ageing community dwelling men: Long-term outcomes of the Concord Health and Ageing in Men Project (CHAMP) study

Abstract

Urinary incontinence (UI) in both men and women is a common health problem in the ageing population. Estimates of UI prevalence for men is between 4.5 – 21%. UI can be a debilitating condition with significant impact on overall health and wellbeing. Particularly in its severe forms, UI can predispose to increased falls and fractures. In this study we aim to evaluate the long term changes in UI and its impact on Quality of life (QOL) in older men.

Data was collected from the Concord Health and Ageing in Men Project (CHAMP), a population-based study of community-dwelling Australian men aged 70 years or older living in a defined geographical area in Sydney. In total 1705 men were included in the study. Participants were assessed at baseline, 2,5,8 and 11 years follow-up with clinical assessments and self-completed questionnaires. Urinary symptoms, continence, QOL and functional data was extracted from the CHAMP database including the International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS), International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire- urinary incontinence short form (ICIQ) and 12-item Short Form survey (SF-12).

The results in this study showed a clear trend in older community dwelling men that the prevalence of UI increases over time, 14.8% (247 of 1674) at baseline and increasing to 22.8% (102 from 447) at 11 years follow-up. Furthermore, the severity of UI increased over the study period as demonstrated by the rising ICIQ scores and pad per day (PPD) usage. A negative impact of UI on the SF-12 score was seen across both physical/mental health component scores (PCS and MCS) . However, the impact on PCS longitudinally was greater than the impact seen on MCS.

The results from the CHAMP study showed that UI is a common condition in our older male Australian population and affected more than 1 in 8 individuals in our cohort of 1705 men. The prevalence and severity of this condition increased over time significantly and it had a persistent negative impact on QOL.