It’s mostly in your head.

First, the details.

• 42 community-dwelling women aged 60 and older with urge urinary incontinence were assigned to 8 weeks of biofeedback and behavioral training in urge suppression.

And, the results.

• There was significant improvement in urinary incontinence and psychological burden based on the Urge Impact Scale.
• Improvement in psychological outcomes was twice as great in those with a history of depression, especially on the perception of control.

The bottom line?
According to the authors, “In older women with urge urinary incontinence, biofeedback significantly improves psychological burden, especially in those with a history of depression, in whom psychological burden is linked to change in perception of control.”

Furthermore, “Psychological factors are relevant outcome measures for urinary incontinence, and … focusing on urinary incontinence frequency alone may have underestimated biofeedback’s efficacy and additional therapeutic benefits.”

Hmm.

1/15/08 22:23 JR