Overactive bladder helps predict falls older adults

An overactive bladder, with (wet) or without urgency incontinence (dry), can significantly predict falls in older adults with a low absolute fall risk, suggests a study.

The authors conducted this prospective cohort study in 630 community-dwelling, independent older adults aged ≥75 years who attended a health check-up in 2017 with a 1-year follow-up. Logistic regression models were used to assess the associations of overactive bladder dry and wet with a fall history, as well as future fall risk compared to no overactive bladder.

In total, 577 participants (median age, 79 years; 47 percent men) were included in the analysis. The prevalence of overactive bladder dry and wet at baseline was 15 percent and 14 percent, respectively.

In multivariable logistic regression analysis, both overactive bladder dry (adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 2.03, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 1.23–3.37) and wet (aOR, 2.21, 95 percent CI, 1.29–3.78) correlated with an increased likelihood of prior falls.

Among participants without a fall history (n=363), the adjusted ORs of overactive bladder dry and wet for the occurrence of falls were 2.74 (95 percent CI, 1.19–6.29) and 1.35 (95 percent CI, 0.47–3.87), respectively, during the 1-year follow-up.

In the tree-based approach used for all participants, overactive bladder was a significant predictor of falls in adults without a fall history. The model had an accuracy of 83.6 percent and area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 81.8 percent.