Impact of self-perceived health on long-lived subjects with urinary incontinence

AIMS: To verify the impact of self-perceived health on the chance of developing urinary incontinence in very-old. METHODS: This is a cross-sectional and analytical study with elderly individuals aged 90 years and over. The statistical and analytical variables (sex, marital status, continence, age, depressive symptoms, cognition, comorbidities and ability to perform activities) were analyzed analytical and descriptive statistics (frequencies, mean and standard deviation, univariate and health self-perception adjusted logistic regression analysis). RESULTS: There were 182 participants, 71% women. The previous diagnosis of depression, the score of depressive symptoms and the percentage of ease for functional and basic activities were related to self-perception of health (p<0.05). The loss of urine, however, was not related to self-perceived health. The self-perception of health influenced the effect of the variables previous diagnosis of depression, number of depressive symptoms, Mini-Mental State Examination score and number of comorbidities on the chance of urinary incontinence in the presence of these variables. Males, widowhood and ease of performance of basic and functional activities were significantly related to urinary incontinence regardless of the adjustment of health self-perception. CONCLUSIONS: There was no relationship between urinary incontinence and health self-perception. However, health self-perception influenced the effect of sociodemographic and clinical variables on the chance of having urinary incontinence.