Urge Incontinence

Excerpt

Urinary incontinence is the leakage of any volume of urine, which is mostly involuntary. The 3 most well-known types of urinary incontinence are urgency or urge incontinence, stress incontinence, and overflow incontinence. Some patients have symptoms of many types (mixed), and some can have functional symptoms. Patients with urge incontinence typically complain of a sudden compelling urge to void that is difficult to hold and that often results in involuntary leakage of urine.

Stress incontinence involves involuntary, often sudden, loss of urine due to increased intra-abdominal pressure. On the other hand, overflow incontinence mainly includes an overdistended bladder (either due to reduced detrusor contractility or bladder outlet obstruction), often leading to involuntary loss of urine. This topic focuses on a brief review of urgency/urge urinary incontinence.