[Communication, diagnosis and treatment of urinary incontinence in the elderly in a basic health area]

To investigate the frequency in which aged people who suffers on urinary incontinence (UI) talk about this problem with primary care professionals, variables related to no healthcare-seeking as well as diagnostic and therapeutic habits of these professionals.

Cross-sectional study.Location. Basic Health Zone of Cabra (Córdoba, Spain).

A random age-stratified sample of 869 patients selected from a total of 5139 persons >= 65 years of age.Interventions. Home interview.

Proper questionnaire with questions about reporting of incontinence to health professionals and the procedures used for routine screening as well as diagnostic and therapeutic assessment of incontinence. A logistic regression model was elaborated to identify explanatory factors for reporting incontinence to healthcare professionals.

Of 330 incontinents, only 32% reported their problem to healthcare professionals. The remaining 68% did not report their incontinence because most thought it was a minor problem and/or part of the ageing process. The explanatory factors for seeking medical help were the frequency, duration and impact of incontinence, and dependence in self-care. Physicians performed routine screening for incontinence in 10% of 827 inquired aged. In 1 out of 5 incontinents, the physician did not take any diagnostic or therapeutic measures.

Seeking of UI medical help was very limited and depends on variables related to perception in symptom's changes. Diagnosis and treatment done by professionals was suboptimal. Severity of UI conditions diagnosis and treatment.