Multimorbidity increased the risk of urinary incontinence in community-dwelling adults: Results from the English Longitudinal Study On Ageing

Multimorbidity (MM) is common in older people. Recent evidence, largely from cross-sectional studies, suggests that MM could be a risk factor for urinary incontinence (UI). For this reason, we aimed to explore the association between MM at baseline and incident UI, and which individual chronic medical conditions/factors might explain the association between MM and UI, using data from the English Longitudinal Study on Ageing, during ten years of follow-up. MM was defined as having two or more chronic medical conditions; the presence of UI was assessed using self-reported information. A logistic regression analysis, adjusted for baseline potential confounders, was used to assess the association between MM and UI, reporting the data as odds ratios (ORs) with their 95 % confidence intervals (CIs). Of 9432 initial participants, 6742 (mean age: 64.8 years; 53.2 % females) without UI at baseline were included in the analysis. MM was present at baseline in 48.8 % of the participants. People with MM had a significantly higher cumulative incidence of UI than their counterparts, leading to a significantly higher risk of UI also after adjusting for potential confounders at baseline (OR = 1.30; 95 % CI: 1.14-1.48). Among the medical conditions, only three were significantly associated with incident UI, namely asthma, Par-kinson's disease, and psychiatric disorders. In conclusion, MM at baseline was associated with an increased risk of UI during ten years of follow-up, suggesting that UI is more likely to be present in people with several chronic medical conditions.