Voiding disorders in geriatric patients. Correlation with age-related functional impairments

Voiding disorders are a common problem in elderly people. The highest incidence and prevalence occurs in female patients with a high level of dependency and cognitive impairments. The aim of the study was to define the correlation between the presence of voiding disorders and age-related functional deficits in hospitalized elderly patients within the framework of a comprehensive geriatric assessment. This is of utmost importance for planning adequate further diagnostic and therapeutic measures. This study involved a retrospective cross-sectional assessment of data from 7487 hospitalized patients (74.1 % females, 25.9 % males, mean age 78.9 +/- 7.2 years) evaluated by a multidimensional geriatric assessment. Items tested were symptoms of voiding disorders, activities of daily living, cognitive and emotional status, mobility, handgrip strength, need for walking aids, pain, nutritional status and visual function. Data were evaluated with respect to the prevalence of voiding disorders, patient functional status and to the relationship between these findings. Among all patients 4494 (60.0 %) presented with voiding disorders. Of these 95.8 % showed additional relevant functional deficits in three or more test items. Voiding disorders were positively correlated to patient age, dependency in activities of daily living and pain scores and were negatively correlated to cognitive and emotional status, mobility, hand grip strength, nutritional status and visual function. The functional deficits were associated with the severity of voiding disorders. Female patients were more often affected by voiding disorders as well as by functional impairments in comparison to male patients. The results showed that more than half of the elderly hospitalized patients suffered from voiding disorders. The high prevalence and correlation between the presence of voiding disorders and functional deficits indicate the need to clearly define and plan diagnostic and therapeutic measures (e. g. bladder diaries and bladder retraining) for these patients, taking the individual functional status into consideration. In older patients with voiding disorders, high levels of functional impairment should be considered before planning diagnostic and therapeutic measures in order to ensure the quality of implementation.