Long-term effect of community-based continence promotion on urinary symptoms, falls and healthy active life expectancy among older women: cluster randomised trial

BACKGROUND: The long-term effectiveness of group continence promotion delivered via community organisations on female urinary incontinence, falls and healthy life expectancy remains unknown. METHODS: A pragmatic cluster randomised trial was conducted among 909 women aged 65–98 years with urinary incontinence, recruited from 377 community organisations in the UK, Canada and France. A total of 184 organisations were randomised to an in-person 60-min incontinence self-management workshop (461 participants), and 193 to a control healthy ageing workshop (448 participants). The primary outcome was self-reported incontinence improvement at 1-year. Falls and gains in health utility were secondary outcomes. RESULTS: A total 751 women, mean age 78.0, age range 65–98 completed the trial (83%). At 1-year, 15% of the intervention group versus 6.9% of controls reported significant improvements in urinary symptoms, (difference 8.1%, 95% confidence intervals (CI) 4.0–12.1%, intracluster correlation 0.04, number-needed-to-treat 13) and 35% versus 19% reported any improvement (risk difference 16.0%, 95% CI 10.4–21.5, number-needed-to-treat 6). The proportion of fallers decreased from 42% to 36% in the intervention group (−8.0%, 95% CI −14.8 – −1.0) and from 44% to 34% in the control group (−10.3%, 95% CI −17.4 – −3.6), no difference between groups. Both intervention and control groups experienced a gain in health utility (0.022 points (95% CI 0.005–0.04) versus 0.035 (95% CI 0.017–0.052), respectively), with no significant difference between groups. CONCLUSION: Community-based group continence promotion achieves long-term benefits on older women’s urinary symptoms, without improvement in falls or healthy life expectancy compared with participation in a healthy ageing workshop.