It is estimated that one in four women ages 30-59 have experienced an episode of urinary incontinence. It can occur in children and young adults, but the largest number affected is the elderly. Fifty percent or more of elderly persons living at home or in long-term care facilities are incontinent. Sufferers may experience emotional as well as physical discomfort. Many people affected by loss of bladder or bowel control isolate themselves for fear of ridicule and lose self-esteem.
Adults often find employment impossible.
Urge incontinence, the urgent need to pass urine and the inability to get to a toilet in time, occurs when nerve passages along the pathway from the bladder to the brain are damaged, causing a sudden bladder contraction that cannot be consciously inhibited. Overflow incontinence refers to leakage that occurs when the quantity of urine produced exceeds the bladder's holding capacity. Reflex incontinence, the loss of urine when the person is unaware of the need to urinate, may result from an abnormal opening between the bladder and another structure or from a leak in the bladder, urethra, or ureter. Incontinence from surgery follows such operations as hysterectomies, caesarian sections, prostatectomies, lower intestinal surgery, or rectal surgery.