Urinary incontinence in spinal cord injured individuals 10-45 years after injury

Epidemiological follow-up study.

To evaluate urinary incontinence and its management in a population of individuals with long-term spinal cord injury (SCI).

Clinic for Spinal Cord Injuries and Department of Urology, Copenhagen University Hospital, Rigshospitalet, Denmark.

Retrospective data collection from the patient records and information from a follow-up questionnaire of traumatic SCI individuals at least 10 years after injury. A total of 236 patients participated (84.6% response), 82% males and 18% females, 47% tetraplegic and 53% paraplegic, injured between 1956 and 1990. Age at the time of follow-up was 28-84 years (mean 50.5 years). Years of follow-up were 10-45 years (mean 24.1 years).

A total of 43% of the participants reported incontinence from less than once a week to daily. There was a significant linear trend across the groups of incontinence with more paraplegics reporting daily incontinence compared with tetraplegics. A higher proportion of participants using clean intermittent catheterization reported incontinence (56%) compared with participants using other bladder-emptying methods. Only 19% of the participants used medication for the management of incontinence.

Urinary incontinence is a common problem in individuals with SCI. Only a minority of individuals used medication for the treatment of incontinence.

This study was carried out as a part of the primary author's PhD study, financed by the Medicon Valley Academy and Coloplast A/S.