Urinary incontinence in spinal cord injured individuals 10-45 years after injury

TY - JOUR

T1 - Urinary incontinence in spinal cord injured individuals 10-45 years after injury

AU - Hansen, R B

AU - Biering-Sørensen, Fin

AU - Kristensen, Jørgen Kvist

PY - 2010/1/1

Y1 - 2010/1/1

N2 - Study design: Epidemiological follow-up study. Objective: To evaluate urinary incontinence and its management in a population of individuals with long-term spinal cord injury (SCI). Setting: Clinic for Spinal Cord Injuries and Department of Urology, Copenhagen University Hospital, Rigshospitalet, Denmark. Methods: Retrospective data collection from the patient records and information from a follow-up questionnaire of traumatic SCI individuals at least 10 years after injury. A total of 236 patients participated (84.6% response), 82% males and 18% females, 47% tetraplegic and 53% paraplegic, injured between 1956 and 1990. Age at the time of follow-up was 28-84 years (mean 50.5 years). Years of follow-up were 10-45 years (mean 24.1 years).Results:A total of 43% of the participants reported incontinence from less than once a week to daily. There was a significant linear trend across the groups of incontinence with more paraplegics reporting daily incontinence compared with tetraplegics. A higher proportion of participants using clean intermittent catheterization reported incontinence (56%) compared with participants using other bladder-emptying methods. Only 19% of the participants used medication for the management of incontinence. Conclusion: Urinary incontinence is a common problem in individuals with SCI. Only a minority of individuals used medication for the treatment of incontinence. Sponsorship: This study was carried out as a part of the primary author's PhD study, financed by the Medicon Valley Academy and Coloplast A/S.

AB - Study design: Epidemiological follow-up study. Objective: To evaluate urinary incontinence and its management in a population of individuals with long-term spinal cord injury (SCI). Setting: Clinic for Spinal Cord Injuries and Department of Urology, Copenhagen University Hospital, Rigshospitalet, Denmark. Methods: Retrospective data collection from the patient records and information from a follow-up questionnaire of traumatic SCI individuals at least 10 years after injury. A total of 236 patients participated (84.6% response), 82% males and 18% females, 47% tetraplegic and 53% paraplegic, injured between 1956 and 1990. Age at the time of follow-up was 28-84 years (mean 50.5 years). Years of follow-up were 10-45 years (mean 24.1 years).Results:A total of 43% of the participants reported incontinence from less than once a week to daily. There was a significant linear trend across the groups of incontinence with more paraplegics reporting daily incontinence compared with tetraplegics. A higher proportion of participants using clean intermittent catheterization reported incontinence (56%) compared with participants using other bladder-emptying methods. Only 19% of the participants used medication for the management of incontinence. Conclusion: Urinary incontinence is a common problem in individuals with SCI. Only a minority of individuals used medication for the treatment of incontinence. Sponsorship: This study was carried out as a part of the primary author's PhD study, financed by the Medicon Valley Academy and Coloplast A/S.

U2 - 10.1038/sc.2009.46

DO - 10.1038/sc.2009.46

M3 - Journal article

SN - 1362-4393

VL - 48

SP - 27

EP - 33

JO - Spinal Cord

JF - Spinal Cord

IS - 1

ER -