Table 3.

Conditions Causing Reversible Urinary Incontinence and Their Management

Condition	Management
Impaired ability or willingness
to reach a toilet
Delirium	Diagnosis and treatment of underlying
	cause(s) of acute confusional state
Chronic illness, injury, or restraint	Regular toileting, use of toilet substitutes,
that interferes with mobility	environmental alterations (eg, bedside commode,
	urinal)
Psychological condition	Removal of restraints if feasible; appropriate
	pharmacologic and/or nonpharmacologic
	treatment
Drug side effects (see Table 2)	With all medications, discontinuation or
	change of therapy, as clinically feasible;
	dosage reduction or modification (eg, flexible
	scheduling of rapid-acting diuretics)
Increased urine production
Metabolic disorder
Hyperglycemia	Better control of diabetes mellitus
Hypercalcemia	Therapy depending on underlying cause
Excess fluid intake	Reduction of intake of diuretic fluids
	(eg, caffeinated beverages)
Volume overload
Venous insufficiency with edema	Support stockings, leg elevation, sodium
	restriction, diuretic therapy
Congestive heart failure	Medical therapy
Conditions affecting the lower
urinary tract
Urinary tract infection (with	Antimicrobial therapy
symptoms of frequency, urgency,
dysuria, etc)
Atrophic vaginitis/urethritis	Assess risk / benefit of oral / topical estrogen
Stool impaction	Disimpaction; appropriate use of stool
	softeners, bulk-forming agents, and laxatives
	if necessary

Data from Fantl et al.¹