Managing Urinary Incontinence in Elderly Village Women in Rural Bangladesh

Managing Urinary Incontinence in Elderly Village Women in Rural Bangladesh: a Cluster Randomized Trial of a Community Exercise-based Intervention

An intervention consisting of group and home based exercise will be used over 6 months to assess whether this is helpful in managing urinary incontinence in elderly village women in Bangladesh. This intervention, supplemented by education about managing incontinence, will be used in half the villages in the trial. In the other half women will receive only the education component.

This is a cluster randomized trial in which all women aged 60-75 years reporting symptoms of urinary incontinence are randomly assigned, by village of residence, to either exercise plus education of to education alone.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Women aged 60-75 years reporting incontinence on a screening questionnaire (yes to questions 2,3or 4 on the 6 item Urinary Distress Index)

Exclusion Criteria:

• They report a uterine prolapse which is (or becomes) known to be of 3rd degree or higher.
• They are assessed by the village paramedic to be incapable of standing from sitting without help from someone else.
• They are assessed by the village paramedic to be unable to walk without help at a normal pace for someone of her age.
• They are assessed by the village paramedic as not having the intellectual capacity to understand questions and follow instructions.