Incontinência urinária e fatores associados na população idosa brasileira

Abstract

Aging is characterized as a process while old age is characterized as a stage of human development that entails biopsychosocial changes. Urinary incontinence (UI) is characterized by any type of involuntary loss of urine that may or may not be associated with exertion. Although UI is not a direct consequence of aging, it is considered a major geriatric syndrome, as its prevalence and severity increase throughout life. The objective of the study was to analyze the factors associated with self-reported UI in Brazilian elderly people. A cross-sectional, documentary research was carried out, based on the database of the first wave of the Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Elderly Health (ELSI-Brazil), whose data were collected in the years 2015- 2016. 9,412 people participated in the ELSI-Brazil, 7,935 (84.3%) residents of urban areas, respondents to the individual questionnaire, located in 70 municipalities in different regions of Brazil. As an inclusion criterion for the current study, individuals over 60 years of age were considered who answered questions about age, sex, marital status, ethnicity, weight, height, education, whether or not they had diabetes, depression, physical fatigue, sleep quality, measurement of waist circumference, as well as handgrip, balance and gait speed tests. The data were considered to have non- normal distribution using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. Therefore, the Mann Whitney U and Chi-square or Fisher's Exact tests were used to compare the sample characteristics between the groups of elderly people with and without self-reported UI. For the variables that showed a significant difference between the groups, binary logistic regression was performed with the backward insertion method according to the self-report of UI. The results of the binary logistic regression were presented in odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence interval (95% CI), with a p value < 0.05 adopted in all tests. The SPSS program was used to analyze the data. It was observed that, of the 5,147 elderly people (70.16 ± 7.84 years old), only 430 (73.30 ± 8.46 years old) had UI. Among the main results, we can observe that the group with urinary loss is older, with a larger waist circumference, with lower handgrip strength, with a lower balance score and higher gait speed. Furthermore, of everyone who has diabetes, the majority have UI.