Overactive Bladder and Continence Guidelines: implementation, inaction or frustration?

Guidelines for the management of continence and overactive bladder are generally available across Europe. For a majority of countries, these have been adopted by professional societies in either urology or gynaecology for local use. There has, however, been little monitoring of formal implementation of these guidelines and seldom any attempt to audit their operation. The state of continence care therefore remains largely unknown. This article reviews current guidelines and their status across Europe and examines what might be relevant from other disease areas to promote successful implementation.