The prevalence of bladder incontinence rose from 21.1% in 1992 to 30.2% in 2010 for Medicare beneficiaries aged 65 years and older – an increase of 43%, according to data from the Medicare Current Beneficiary Survey.
Among white non-Hispanic patients, prevalence of bladder incontinence rose by 48% – going from 20.7% in 1992 to 30.6% in 2010. Prevalence in Hispanics rose from 22.7% in 1992 to 28.5% in 2010, for an increase of almost 26%. Black non-Hispanics saw their prevalence of bladder incontinence rise from 23.2% in 1992 to 27.7% in 2010 – an increase of more than 19%.
In the overall Medicare population for the same time period, bladder incontinence was reported almost twice as often among women – going from 25.8% in 1992 to 38.3% in 2010 – as in men – 13.4% in 1992 and 19.5% in 2010, according to MCBS data on the CDC Health Data Interactive.
