Bedside diagnosis of urinary incontinence

Urinary incontinence usually presents as stress incontinence, unstable bladder, incontinence of psychomotor impairment, or neurogenic bladder. While diagnosis may sometimes require specialist investigation, it is often possible on clinical grounds. The otherwise well woman with a long history of incontinence will have either stress incontinence or an unstable bladder; the differences are defined. The ill patient with a short history of incontinence associated with impaired alertness or mobility will usually have a reversible cause. Patients whose incontinence is due to a neurogenic cause fall into four main categories, and treatment is specific to each.