Invited Commentary: The Contribution of the BACH Survey to the Epidemiology of Urinary Incontinence

Despite a substantial number of epidemiologic studies of urinary incontinence over the past two decades, relatively little is known about urinary incontinence in non-White women or in men. By enrolling White, Black, and Hispanic men and women, the Boston Area Community Health (BACH) Survey has added to our limited knowledge of incontinence in these groups. In general, the results from BACH, reported in the current issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology (Tennstedt et al., Am J Epidemiol 2008;167:390-399), confirm prior findings in women while extending our knowledge of the prevalence of and risk factors for incontinence in men. Interpretation of the BACH Survey results must be tempered by the low enrollment rate (less than 25% of eligible community members). The associations between cardiovascular disease and incontinence reported for some gender/race-ethnicity subgroups should be considered exploratory.