Backgrounds: Urinary incontinence (UI) is increasingly prevalent, particularly in older adults. UI management is frequently under-resourced and is associated with the development of potentially avoidable complications, placing a significant burden on the patient and on the healthcare system. This study aimed to estimate the cost of UI-related complications in Canada. Methods: We conducted a comprehensive literature review using PubMed, Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) data and citation mining to identify the prevalence of UI, UI-related complications, and associated treatment costs across each of acute care, long-term care (LTC), homecare and self/family care. UI-related complications quantified included: urinary tract infections (UTI), catheter-associated UTI, incontinence-associated dermatitis (IAD), UI-related pressure ulcers (PU), slips and falls, and fall-related injuries. The total economic burden to the Canadian healthcare system was estimated using UI prevalence, complication rates, and costs of treating complications in each setting. Results: The estimated number of older Canadians with UI totaled 2, 338, 503 with an annual economic burden of UI-related complications up to 1, 654, 875, 326. Acute care had the highest cost (up to 1, 190, 494, 315), driven by skin-related complications (up to 525, 692, 182 for PU and 471, 461, 636 for IAD). Fall-related injuries, followed by UTIs, imposed the highest cost in LTC, homecare and self/family care, totaling up to 309, 141, 175 and 126, 305, 519, respectively. LTC had the lowest overall complication burden (up to 49, 408, 153), roughly one-third the cost in homecare, and one-fifth the cost in self/family care. Conclusions: UI and its associated complications represent a substantial economic burden to the Canadian healthcare system. This underscores the need for improved UI management strategies to contain associated costs.
Su et al. (Thu,) studied this question.