Clinical versus urodynamic diagnosis in an incontinent geriatric female population

The clinical presentation of incontinence was compared to diagnoses based on urological and urodynamic evaluation in 135 elderly women assessed consecutively in an outpatient clinic. Most patients (64 per cent) presented with mixed symptoms: 16 per cent presented with pure stress and 16 per cent with pure urge incontinence. After evaluation 46 per cent of the patients had stress incontinence with a stable bladder, 27 per cent had detrusor instability or hyperreflexia without sphincter weakness and 19 per cent had mixed urodynamic abnormalities. Presenting symptoms were predictive of urodynamic diagnosis in 64 per cent of the patients with pure stress incontinence and 55 per cent with pure urge incontinence. In general, symptoms in our patient population were less predictive of urodynamic findings than in previously reported series of younger incontinent women but they were more predictive than in other series of elderly women. Predictive values for some urodynamic findings were enhanced by combining a symptom with certain physical findings. Implications of these data for the evaluation and treatment of incontinence in the geriatric population are discussed.