About Urinary Incontinence

Urinary incontinence is an inability to hold urine until you get to a toilet. More than 13 million people in the United States - including one in four women - experience incontinence. It is often temporary, and it always results from an underlying health condition. There are different types of urinary incontinence:

• Stress incontinence
  Leakage of small amounts of urine during physical movement (coughing, sneezing, exercising)

• Urge incontinence
  Leakage of large amounts of urine at unexpected times, including during sleep

• Functional incontinence
  Untimely urination because of physical disability, external obstacles, or problems in thinking or communicating that prevent a person from reaching a toilet

• Overflow incontinence
  Unexpected leakage of small amounts of urine because of a full bladder

• Mixed incontinence
  Usually the occurrence of stress and urge incontinence together

• Transient incontinence
  Leakage that occurs temporarily because of a condition that will pass (infection, medication)

Learn more about urinary incontinence at these websites:

• The Simon Foundation
  http://www.simonfoundation.org/

• National Kidney and Urologic Diseases Information Clearinghouse (National Institutes of Health)
  http://kidney.niddk.nih.gov/kudiseases/pubs/uiwomen/

• National Association for Continence
  http://www.nafc.org/index.htm

• American Urological Association
  http://www.urologyhealth.org/

• National Institute on Aging
  Age Page
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