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Research Shows Few Incontinent Americans Seek Help

Posted on: Monday, 13 March 2006, 12:00 CST

As few as 4% of US adults with overactive bladders seek medical treatment, despite the condition affecting an estimated 34 million Americans over the age of 18, according to researchers at Florida International University.

A team led by Dr Sunny Kim from Florida International University looked at national US government databases covering visits to hospitals and family doctors. They found a large unmet medical need among Americans with overactive bladder OAB, even though it is one of the 10 most common chronic medical conditions in the country.

The researchers' results were published in the urology journal BJU International. They found that 1.5 million adults had an OAB diagnostic code in their records but only a third had it listed as the primary reason for their visit.

"Our study suggests that OAB is greatly-undiagnosed and under-treated in America" says Dr Kim. "16% of the adult population has the condition, but only one in every 25 sufferers actually seeks medical attention."

"We believe that OAB is commonly under-reported in research because people taking part in studies feel embarrassed about OAB and because of the negative social stigma or shame many associate with the condition," Dr Kim continued.

The research covered three leading national databases which are compiled annually: the National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS), the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NHAMCS), and the National Hospital Discharge Survey (NHDS).

Source: Datamonitor

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