Major Depression in Female Urinary Incontinence

The authors explored the relationship between urinary incontinence and major depression through data from the Canadian Community Health Survey. The prevalence of depression was 15.5% in women with urinary incontinence (30% in women ages 18–44) and only 9.2% in women without urinary incontinence. Women with comorbid illness reported increased physician use, subjective distress, and work absence. These conditions frequently occur together in Canadian women, and the combined impact of urinary incontinence and major depression exceeds the impact of either condition alone. Physicians need to be attentive to these findings.