Urinary incontinence, understood as any involuntary
loss of urine, constitutes an important medical
and social problem. It can be classified as stress
urinary incontinence, urgent urinary incontinence
or mixed urinary incontinence. The proportions of
these three types of urinary incontinence are difficult
to establish and vary notably between sources,
but they might be about 40, 33 and 20% respectively.
Its diagnosis requires a correct clinical history
and physical exploration, together with some complementary
explorations.
The first therapeutic step consists of hygienicdietary
measures and behaviour modification techniques.
Pharmacological treatment is specific for each
type of urinary incontinence, using anticholinergics
and inhibitors of serotonin reuptake.
Finally, different surgical techniques have a role in
cases where conservative treatments fail or when dealing
with severe urinary incontinence
