Biomaterial Database

Urinary incontinence among elderly persons who live at home: a literature review. 1998

E Steeman, and M Defever

Center for Health Services and Nursing Research, School of Public Health, Faculty of Medicine, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.els.steeman@med.kuleuven.ac.be

Urinary incontinence affects many older persons and is a problem with considerable physical, psychosocial and economic consequences. Urinary incontinence among elderly persons living at home often goes undetected by health care professionals. Nurses as well as other health care professionals have an important role in the development of a systematic approach for the detection of urinary incontinence and in the enhancement of the quality of incontinence care for elderly persons living at home. This article reviews aspects of epidemiology, impact on quality of life, self-care, and treatment possibilities of urinary incontinence in this cohort of elderly persons. As a result of the findings of the literature review, the role of nurses in incontinence care is discussed.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D011788	Quality of Life	A generic concept reflecting concern with the modification and enhancement of life attributes, e.g., physical, political, moral, social environment as well as health and disease.	HRQOL,Health-Related Quality Of Life,Life Quality,Health Related Quality Of Life
D005851	Geriatric Nursing	Nursing care of the aged patient given in the home, the hospital, or special institutions such as nursing homes, psychiatric institutions, etc.	Nursing, Geriatric,Geriatric Nursings,Nursings, Geriatric
D006699	Home Care Services	Community health and NURSING SERVICES providing coordinated multiple services to the patient at the patient's homes. These home-care services are provided by a visiting nurse, home health agencies, HOSPITALS, or organized community groups using professional staff for care delivery. It differs from HOME NURSING which is provided by non-professionals.	Domiciliary Care,Home Health Care,Care Services, Home,Home Care,Services, Home Care,Care, Domiciliary,Care, Home,Home Care Service,Service, Home Care
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000368	Aged	A person 65 years of age or older. For a person older than 79 years, AGED, 80 AND OVER is available.	Elderly
D012720	Severity of Illness Index	Levels within a diagnostic group which are established by various measurement criteria applied to the seriousness of a patient's disorder.	Illness Index Severities,Illness Index Severity
D014549	Urinary Incontinence	Involuntary loss of URINE, such as leaking of urine. It is a symptom of various underlying pathological processes. Major types of incontinence include URINARY URGE INCONTINENCE and URINARY STRESS INCONTINENCE.	Incontinence, Urinary
D015331	Cohort Studies	Studies in which subsets of a defined population are identified. These groups may or may not be exposed to factors hypothesized to influence the probability of the occurrence of a particular disease or other outcome. Cohorts are defined populations which, as a whole, are followed in an attempt to determine distinguishing subgroup characteristics.	Birth Cohort Studies,Birth Cohort Study,Closed Cohort Studies,Cohort Analysis,Concurrent Studies,Historical Cohort Studies,Incidence Studies,Analysis, Cohort,Cohort Studies, Closed,Cohort Studies, Historical,Studies, Closed Cohort,Studies, Concurrent,Studies, Historical Cohort,Analyses, Cohort,Closed Cohort Study,Cohort Analyses,Cohort Studies, Birth,Cohort Study,Cohort Study, Birth,Cohort Study, Closed,Cohort Study, Historical,Concurrent Study,Historical Cohort Study,Incidence Study,Studies, Birth Cohort,Studies, Cohort,Studies, Incidence,Study, Birth Cohort,Study, Closed Cohort,Study, Cohort,Study, Concurrent,Study, Historical Cohort,Study, Incidence
D015995	Prevalence	The total number of cases of a given disease in a specified population at a designated time. It is differentiated from INCIDENCE, which refers to the number of new cases in the population at a given time.	Period Prevalence,Point Prevalence,Period Prevalences,Point Prevalences,Prevalence, Period,Prevalence, Point,Prevalences