Prevalence of hand‐washing urinary incontinence in healthy subjects in relation to stress and urge incontinence

Abstract

Abstract Hand‐washing urinary incontinence is involuntary urine loss in response to washing hands, hearing the sound of running water, or exposing oneself to cold wind in the winter season. The prevalence of this incontinence in relation to stress and urge incontinence was studied in healthy community‐dwelling subjects of 1,636 females and 3,010 males. The afflication rate of both genders was 3% for those in their 50s and younger and 16% for those in their 60s and older, which was significantly different (P < 0.01). Females (10%) suffered more from this incontinence compared to males (5%) (P < 0.01). The prevalence of this incontinence was approximately the same as that of stress and urge incontinence in each gender except females' stress incontinence, which was 3 times more than the other two. Seventytwo percent of subjects with hand‐washing incontinence also had either urge incontinence, stress incontinence, or both.