New! Sign up for our free email newsletter.
Reference Terms
from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Urinary incontinence

Urinary incontinence is the involuntary excretion of urine from one's body. Stress incontinence is essentially due to pelvic floor muscle weakness. It is loss of small amounts of urine with coughing, laughing, sneezing, exercising or other movements that increase intrabdominal pressure and thus increase pressure on the bladder. Physical changes resulting from pregnancy, childbirth, and menopause often cause stress incontinence, and in men it is a common problem following a prostatectomy. It is the most common form of incontinence in women and is treatable. Urge incontinence is involuntary loss of urine occurring for no apparent reason while suddenly feeling the need or urge to urinate. The most common cause of urge incontinence is involuntary and inappropriate detrusor muscle contractions. Involuntary actions of bladder muscles can occur because of damage to the nerves of the bladder, to the nervous system (spinal cord and brain), or to the muscles themselves. Multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's Disease, stroke, and injury - including injury that occurs during surgery - can all harm bladder nerves or muscles. People with functional incontinence may have problems thinking, moving, or communicating that prevent them from reaching a toilet. A person with Alzheimer's Disease, for example, may not think well enough to plan a timely trip to a restroom. A person in a wheelchair may be blocked from getting to a toilet in time. Conditions such as these are often associated with age and account for some of the incontinence of elderly women and men in nursing homes.

Related Stories
 


Health & Medicine News

August 8, 2026

Getting the recommended 150 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous exercise each week may offer only modest protection against heart attacks and strokes. A large study suggests that substantially greater benefits may require roughly 560 to 610 minutes a ...
A protein that evolved long before the human circulatory system may help unlock stronger cancer treatments. When C3 is produced inside tumors, it blocks immune-suppressing cells and gives immunotherapy a better chance to work. Researchers were even ...
Changing how much sweet-tasting food people eat may not change how much they crave or enjoy sweetness after all. In a six-month trial, researchers found that people assigned to high-, low-, or average-sweetness diets showed no meaningful differences ...
Teens who start using cannabis may experience slower growth in memory, attention, language, and processing speed. Their abilities often developed normally at first, then began leveling off while nonusers continued improving. THC appeared to be the ...
Linus Pauling was widely mocked for claiming that vitamin C could fight cancer, especially after trials using vitamin C pills showed no benefit. Researchers now know that intravenous vitamin C reaches vastly higher concentrations and can behave more ...
Blocking the glycine transporter SLC6A20 restored important brain signaling and improved social, communication, and repetitive behaviors in autism-related mouse models. The treatment also worked in human brain organoids and showed lasting effects in ...
A ten-month Antarctic experiment found that astronauts may struggle not only with loneliness but also with spending too much time around the same people. Frequent contact was linked to greater ...
A new wearable patch may help people reach REM sleep faster and remain there longer without medication or surgery. In a study of 28 participants, the device shortened the time to REM by 43 minutes and extended it by about 16 minutes. Researchers ...
Beginning around age 50, the brain’s memory center appears to lose many of its longtime immune cells and replace them with more inflammatory ones. This surprising shift may help explain how normal aging sets the stage for Alzheimer’s disease and ...
A long-term brain study found that common risks such as smoking, high blood pressure, heart disease, and high blood lipids were strongly linked to damage associated with vascular dementia. The findings suggest that healthier lifestyle choices could ...
Genetic changes may set off a chain reaction that causes the spine’s natural shock absorbers to harden and deteriorate. Zebrafish with a faulty collagen-related gene developed mineral buildup and spinal fusion similar to human disc disease. ...
Tiny pollution particles from smoke, soot, and dust may worsen rheumatoid arthritis and raise the risk of painful flares, particularly after prolonged exposure. The findings suggest that avoiding poor air quality could become an important part of ...

Latest Headlines

updated 12:56 pm ET