[Urinary incontinence in older multimorbid female patients. Screening and assessment]

Symptoms of urinary incontinence are a common problem in elderly, multimorbid female patients. The first step in establishing optimal management is to screen patients routinely and address this pathology directly. Urinary incontinence is considered to be a geriatric syndrome. It develops as a consequence of many complex underlying and potentially synergistic factors related to ageing and disease. A multidimensional clinically based assessment of urinary incontinence should be performed using a defined multimodal method including geriatric assessment, medical history, targeted physical investigation, urinalysis, and measurement of post-void residual urine volume. The aim is to identify as many of the underlying factors and pathologies, followed by step-by-step treatment to alleviate or eliminate incontinence. With this approach, excellent therapeutic results can be achieved in practice, even in elderly patients.