How Common Is Urinary Incontinence?
It is estimated that up to one in three people in the UK will experience incontinence at some point in their lifetime. Although it is widespread, unfortunately many people feel too embarrassed to seek help, and therefore remain unaware that continence problems can often be cured, almost always improved, and that there is a variety of available management options. For more information on these, see our Education section.
Video transcript
close transcriptHow common is urinary incontinence?
It's a very common problem, it's thought to affect millions of people worldwide and, in the UK, we estimate that between three and six million people are affected. It's known that not many people will admit to having a continence problem but in general it's also known that it's two to three times more common in women than it is in gentlemen. It becomes more common with age so if we look at the over 80s group you would see approximately forty six percent of women and thirty- four percent of men are affected by urinary incontinence.