Effectiveness of an urinary incontinence program for Chinese elderly women in a community setting

INTERVENTION: Trial period: 12 weeks Intervention: 1. A 30‐minute individual training session was given at the same time of the day, once weekly for the first 4 weeks and then once every fortnight for the remaining 8 weeks 2. A total of eight treatment sessions were given to each recipient 3. Three major components in the UCPP: 3.1. Education, includes anatomy of the pelvic floor muscle and urinary tract, urinary continence mechanism and bladder care 3.2. Pelvic floor muscle training (PFMT) with the aid of vaginal palpation. PFMT included Kegel exercise program and neuromuscular re‐education (the ?knack?) 3.3. Bladder training (BT). BT involved strategies to increase the time interval between voids by a combination of progressive void schedules, urge suppression, distraction, self‐monitoring and reinforcement. 4. For the control group, only an educational pamphlet with information about management of urinary incontinence was given at the baseline. 5. Participants were given an appointment for a follow‐up visit in 12 weeks. Joint Sponsor details: Department of Health The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China CONDITION: Urinary incontinence in elderly women ; Urological and Genital Diseases ; Urinary incontinence PRIMARY OUTCOME: 1. The number of urinary incontinence (UI) episodes in the last 7 days (UI7) ; 2. Subjective perception of improvement was assessed with a 10 cm Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), with 0 being 'no improvement' to 10 being 'complete relief' at the end of the intervention period SECONDARY OUTCOME: 1. Subjects? satisfaction with treatment, assessed by a 10 cm VAS, with 0 being 'totally dissatisfied' and 10 being 'totally satisfied'; 2. Quality of life ‐ assessed by the Incontinence Impact Questionnaire (IIQ) Chinese version INCLUSION CRITERIA: 1. Chinese females, aged 65 years or older 2. Had clinical diagnosis of stress, urge or mixed urinary incontinence by a medical practitioner, with reference to a guideline (Lagro‐Janssen et al 1991)