ABOUT 50 million people in the country suffered from urinary incontinence, which was twice more common in females as compared to males, said Dr. Sameer Trivedi of the Department of Urology, Institute of Medical Science, Banaras Hindu University (BHU) here on Saturday .
Talking to mediapersons, he said that loss of urinary bladder control was called urinary incontinence in which patients could not control passage of urine as a result of which they wet their clothes.
“It can happen to anyone at any age but is very common in older people”, he said and added that at least one in 10 people aged 65 years or older had this problem.Dr. Trivedi said that ageing did not cause urinary incontinence and it was not a sign of natural ageing process but ageing could decrease bladder capacity, decrease urinary stream and increase frequency of urination.
He said that urinary incontinence was of different types, like stress urinary incontinence in which urine leakage occurred because of sudden pressure on lower stomach muscles eg. during coughing, laughing, sneezing, weigh lifting or exercise etc.
Other types of urinary incontinence were urge urinary incontinence, overflow urinary incontinence and functional urinary continence etc. “ The common causes of urinary incontinence are post menopausal state in females, prostatic enlargement or prostatic operation in males, weakness of pelvic muscles, constipation, immobility, drugs, urinary infection, diabetes etc.”, he said. Dr. Trivedi said that most patients were reluctant to talk to medical experts, though today there were more treatment options for urinary incontinence than ever before.
{{/usCountry}}Other types of urinary incontinence were urge urinary incontinence, overflow urinary incontinence and functional urinary continence etc. “ The common causes of urinary incontinence are post menopausal state in females, prostatic enlargement or prostatic operation in males, weakness of pelvic muscles, constipation, immobility, drugs, urinary infection, diabetes etc.”, he said. Dr. Trivedi said that most patients were reluctant to talk to medical experts, though today there were more treatment options for urinary incontinence than ever before.
{{/usCountry}}He said that bladder control training using Kegel pelvic floor muscle exercise, biofeed back and timed voiding techniques gave good results in urinary incontinence.
He added that various new medicines were now available which were very effective in treatment of urge and stress urinary incontinence. Dr. Trivedi said that in view of such treatment options, the persons suffering from urinary incontinence could look forward to having a normal life onceagain