[Clinical study of the timed voiding schedule for urinary incontinence in demented elders]

Fourty-one demented elderly patients who had been diapered because of urinary incontinence in Hanwa-Senboku Hospital were treated with the one-week timed voiding schedule. Finally 14 patients (34%) became dry, and free from diapers for more than 1 week after the treatment. With regard to their cystometrogram findings, 10 (67%) of 15 patients having normoactive detrusor function, 3 (14%) of 21 patients having overactive detrusor function and 1 (20%) of 5 patients having underactive detrusor function became free from diapers after the treatment. Therefore a patient with normoactive detrusor function is thought to be a good candidate for the timed voiding schedule. Regardless of their detrusor function, those who showed good responsiveness to the treatment had better activities in daily life (better than D in the Katz index) and small amount of residual urine (less than 80 ml), indicating that not only the detrusor function but also both activities in daily life and the amount of residual urine are the important factors to reestablish voiding behavior in demented elderly patients. The timed voiding schedule is thought to be a useful method to treat incontinence in demented elderly patients, and should be tried first of all, although intermittent catheterization and/or other alternatives would be necessary for those with a large amount of residual urine with poor activities in daily life.