How Common Is Incontinence in Older Adults?

A fellow caregiver asked...

How common is incontinence in older adults?

Expert Answer

Dr. Leslie Kernisan is the author of a popular blog and podcast at BetterHealthWhileAging.net. She is also a clinical instructor in the University of California, San Francisco, Division of Geriatrics.

By some estimates, as many as half of all adults will suffer from incontinence -- the loss of bladder or bowel control, causing leakage -- at some point in their lives. But incontinence isn't a normal or inevitable consequence of aging. It's a symptom of a problem, not a disease itself.

Urinary incontinence is much more common in women than in men, and it's more common than fecal incontinence. A national survey in 2005 found that 12 percent of women ages 60 to 64 reported daily urinary incontinence, as did 21 percent (or more than one in five) of women over age 85. Nine percent of men of all ages reported having had a bladder control problem in the previous 30 days.