• In 1998 the World Health Organization (WHO) reported that bladder control problems affect more than 200m people worldwide.1
  
  
• The WHO also said that incontinence is a largely preventable and treatable condition and that it's ?certainly not an inevitable consequence of ageing,? adding that ?the most typical reaction exhibited by patients when they are diagnosed with poor bladder control was not fear nor disbelief, but relief.?2
  
  
• The NHS estimates that between 3 and 6 million people in the UK have some degree of urinary incontinence.3
  
  
• A study in 2005 in 6 countries shows age groups of people with Overactive Bladder (sample size 1,272).4

• Studies suggest that in the UK "major faecal incontinence" affects 1.4% of the general population over 40 years old and constipation affects between 3% and 15% of the population.5
  
  
• In 2001 an English study about prevalence of faecal incontinence in adults over 40 years old concluded that ?faecal incontinence is a common symptom in men as well in women?, particularly in older people.6
  
  
• In the UK, 24% of older people are affected by urinary incontinence. Of those older people in institutional care, 30-60% are affected by urinary incontinence, and 25% by bowel incontinence.7
  
  
• A study in 2002 found that 32% of women in the UK, 34% in Germany, 32% in France and 15% in Spain had symptoms of urinary incontinence in the previous 30 days.8
  
  

• Women are more likely to suffer from stress urinary incontinence than men. That's because of the effects of childbirth and the menopause. Men, on the other hand, are more likely to have urinary retention. That's because many men develop prostate gland enlargement as they age. Women don't have a prostate gland.
  


• Between 1 and 2 out of every 5 women in the UK will get cystitis at some point.9
  


• Women are more likely to get interstitial cystitis than men, 90 percent according to some figures. In the USA, estimates are that 700,000 women have it.10


• In 2002 the American-based International Federation for Gastrointestinal Disorders surveyed people who live with Irritable Bowel Syndrome and found that 25% of respondents with IBS reported loss of bowel control.11


• In 2004 an American survey (by the National Association for Continence) reported that women wait 6.5 years and men 4.2 years after beginning to experience bladder control problems before seeing a healthcare professional.12
  

More facts and figures about bowel and bladder incontinence from the UK, USA and Australia

UK

• Bladder and bowel problems around the world. Simon Foundation conference. InContact
• Continence Foundation

USA

• National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
  Kidney and Urologic Diseases Statistics for the United States

Australia

• Continence Foundation of Australia. What it is? Facts and Stats

Page last updated : December 15 2006