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Incidence and Correlates of Incontinence in Stroke Patients
Author(s) -
Brocklehurst J. C.,
Andrews K.,
Richards B.,
Laycock P. J.
Publication year - 1985
Publication title -
journal of the american geriatrics society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.992
H-Index - 232
eISSN - 1532-5415
pISSN - 0002-8614
DOI - 10.1111/j.1532-5415.1985.tb04618.x
Subject(s) - medicine , incidence (geometry) , stroke (engine) , urinary incontinence , gerontology , physical therapy , physical medicine and rehabilitation , surgery , mechanical engineering , physics , optics , engineering
The incidence of incontinence in a series of 135 consecutive stroke patients was 51% (urine) and 23% (feces) within one year. In 75% the urinary incontinence started within the first two weeks, and in 41% it had cleared during that time. Incontinence at onset is associated with measures of severity of stroke (and of immobility for fecal incontinence). Among 92 survivors at one year, 15% were incontinent of urine, a proportion that rose in two‐ and three‐year survivors to 23 to 24%, but by four years was again 14%, a level similar to that of the general elderly population. It is concluded that incontinence is more commonly a by‐product of immobility and dependency than of involvement of the neurologic pathways, and most of it is transient. J Am Qeriatr Soc 33:540, 1985