A study to untangle the puzzle of urinary incontinence and frailty co‐occurrence among older adults: The roles of depression and activity engagement
Authors: Wang Chun‐Yan , Peng Si‐Jing , Zhao Meng , Wu Chen , Wang Ke‐Fang 
Published: March 2024

Aims

To explore the co‐occurrence of urinary incontinence and frailty by testing the roles of depression and activity engagement guided by the mechanisms of common cause and interaction pathways.

Design

A secondary analysis of a 1‐year three‐wave panel data collected from older nursing home residents in China.

Methods

Changes in depression and activity engagement were regressed on urinary incontinence and frailty incidence underpinned by the common cause mechanism of chronic conditions co‐occurrence, and these changes were also taken as mediators linking from frailty to urinary incontinence incidence supported by the interaction pathways' mechanism.

Results

A total of 348 older adults were included in this study, and 55.7% were women. The co‐occurrence of urinary incontinence and frailty was found in 16.7% of the participants at baseline. Older adults with sole frailty at baseline had almost twice the rate of incident urinary incontinence (32.7%) compared with those without (16.7%) over a 1‐year period. The subsample analyses showed that changes in depression and activity engagement failed to significantly predict the incidence of urinary incontinence and frailty. The mediating roles of these changes linking frailty to urinary incontinence incidence were also not statistically significant.

Conclusion

The co‐occurrence of urinary incontinence and frailty is prevalent in older nursing home residents. Older adults with frailty at baseline are more likely to develop urinary incontinence a year later. The common cause and interaction pathways mechanisms for the co‐occurrence of urinary incontinence and frailty were not verified with changes in depression and activity engagement.

Implications for the Profession and/or Patient Care

The phenomenon of urinary incontinence and frailty co‐occurrence should be given extreme emphasis. Although statistically significant findings on the roles of depression and activity engagement were not inferred, this study provides multiple possibilities for future studies to test and depict a clear picture of this co‐occurrence.

Impact

What problem did the study address? This study was designed to test the roles of depression and activity engagement in predicting the incidence of urinary incontinence and frailty, and the mediating roles in linking frailty to urinary incontinence incidence.

What were the main findings? Despite the methodological pitfalls in literature have been addressed, neither depression nor activity engagement would significantly predict the incidence of urinary incontinence and frailty in older adults. Their mediating roles in linking frailty to urinary incontinence incidence were also not significant.

Where and on whom will the research have an impact? Our findings add important pieces of evidence to promote researchers’ understanding and provide an important basis for untangling the puzzle of urinary incontinence and frailty co‐occurrence.

Reporting Method

The report of this study followed the Strengthening the Reporting of Observational Studies in Epidemiology (STROBE) statement guidelines.

Patient or Public Contribution

No patient or public contribution.