Does eradicating bacteriuria affect the severity of chronic urinary incontinence in nursing home residents?
Article Abstract:
Eradicating bacteria in the urine does not appear to relieve chronic urinary incontinence among nursing home patients. Researchers tested urine samples from 176 incontinent nursing home patients for the presence of bacteria. Infected patients were randomly assigned to antibiotic therapy immediately or after a delay of some weeks. The delay allowed for evaluation of random changes in degree of incontinence. Patients wore preweighed diapers or lay on preweighed pads that were checked at baseline and after treatment hourly during the day for three days. No changes were found in the percentage of checks in which the patient was wet between either the noninfected patients and the infected patients nor in the infected patients before and after treatment. These results apply only to patients with chronic incontinence. Patients who become incontinent or in whom incontinence worsens should be tested for urinary tract infection because treating infection is likely to improve incontinence.
Publication Name: Annals of Internal Medicine
Subject: Health
ISSN: 0003-4819
Year: 1995
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Incontinence in the nursing home
Article Abstract:
There are many effective treatments that may reduce the incidence of urinary and fecal incontinence among nursing home residents. Incontinence affects half of all nursing home residents and many nursing home employees consider it to be a major problem. Nursing home residents with a history of incontinence should receive a complete physical exam, including a urinalysis, and an estimate of bladder capacity. Caregivers should determine whether an incontinent resident is capable of responding to specific interventions to reverse incontinence. Many incontinent residents can be prompted to go to the bathroom every two hours. Catheters may help some residents, but should not be overused. Drug therapy or surgery may help certain nursing home residents. Bowel-training programs may reduce fecal incontinence and impaction.
Publication Name: Annals of Internal Medicine
Subject: Health
ISSN: 0003-4819
Year: 1995
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Predictors of successful prompted voiding among incontinent nursing home residents
Article Abstract:
A three-day trial of prompted voiding should quickly identify incontinent nursing home patients who can be treated with this technique on a regular basis. Prompted voiding involves asking patients several times a day if they need to urinate. Nursing home staff prompted 191 elderly patients every two hours and checked their diapers every hour between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. to detect an episode of incontinence. The study lasted for seven days. After the first three days, 78 of the patients had fewer episodes of incontinence each day than they had at the beginning of the study. The number of times they urinated in a toilet increased. Their response to a three-day trial of prompted voiding was the best predictor of whether they would continue to respond to the treatment.
Publication Name: JAMA, The Journal of the American Medical Association
Subject: Health
ISSN: 0098-7484
Year: 1995
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