Urinary incontinence can and does occur at any age, but the causes tend to be different among different age groups. The overall incidence of urinary incontinence increases progressively with age. About 1 out of 3 older people has some problem with bladder control, and women are twice as likely as men to be affected. More than 50 percent of nursing home residents are incontinent. Urinary incontinence can be a reason for institutionalizing elderly people and contributes to the development of pressure sores, bladder and kidney infections, and depression.
Urinary incontinence is also embarrassing and frustrating.
At that point, messages travel along nerves from the bladder to the spinal cord, then are relayed to the brain, and a person becomes aware of the urge to urinate. The person can then consciously and voluntarily decide whether to release the urine from the bladder or to hold it for a while. When the decision is made to urinate, the sphincter muscle relaxes, allowing urine to flow out through the urethra, and the bladder wall muscles contract to push the urine out. That push can be augmented by contracting muscles in the abdominal wall and floor of the pelvis to increase the pressure on the bladder. Types of urinary incontinence are categorized by whether the incontinence started recently and suddenly or developed gradually and is persistent.