Major depression and urinary incontinence in women: temporal associations in an epidemiologic sample.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether: (1) major depression is associated with increased risk for onset of urinary incontinence, and (2) urinary incontinence is associated with increased risk for onset of depression.

STUDY DESIGN: Longitudinal cohort study of female Health and Retirement Study participants completing baseline interviews at Wave 3 (1996-1997) and follow-up interviews at Waves 4-6 (1998-2003).

RESULTS: In a cohort of 5820 women with a mean age 59.3 (+/- 0.5) years, 6-year cumulative incidences of depression and incontinence were 11% and 21%, respectively. Major depression was associated with increased odds of incident incontinence (adjusted odds ratio, 1.46; 95% confidence interval, 1.08-1.97) during follow-up compared with those without major depression at baseline. Conversely, incontinence was not associated with increased odds of incident depression (adjusted odds ratio, 1.03; 95% confidence interval, 0.75-1.42) compared with those without incontinence at baseline.

CONCLUSION: Major depression predicted onset of urinary incontinence in a population-based sample of at-risk, community-dwelling women. Incontinence did not predict onset of depression.