More than half of the female population suffers from incontinence at one time or another and incontinence is increasingly common in men and women over 75 years.

There are many causes of incontinence. The commonest are those which produce weakness of the sphincter muscle that normally controls urine flow from the bladder. The muscle can be damaged in child birth or during prostate operations and doesn’t work efficiently if the supprts for the pelvic floor are weakened.

The main types of incontinence are stress, dribble, overflow and reflex.

Stress incontinence is associated with loss of urine when coughing, sneezing, laughing or lifting. It is often accompanied by urgency - a sensation of wanting to go to the toilet but being unable to wait until they get there.

This form of incontinence can sometimes be caused by drugs, especially some used for the treatment of high blood pressure.

If the problem is a weakness of the pelvic floor, it may respond to exercises or to surgery.

Dribble incontinence occurs mostly in males and is related to narrowing of the urine passages by an enlarged prostate gland.

Overflow incontinence occurs when the bladder is overfull and cannot empty properly - small amounts of urine trickle out. This condition is also commonly associated with prostatic enlargement. It can also result from some diseases of the nervous system and is exaggerated by drugs, psychological factors and alcohol.

Reflex incontinence - diseases of the nevous system or loss of bladder sensation can make the bladder contract at inappropriate times, resulting in total emptying of large volumes of urine from the bladder.

A doctor should be consulted when someone suffers from incontinence in order to establish the cause of the disorder. The patient will then be referred to a urologist, gynaecologist or geriatrician, depending on the patient and the symptoms.