Purpose: Urinary incontinence is a syndrome common in older adults, but it is not clear whether urinary incontinence is associated with the risk for mortality in elderly nursing home residents.

Methods: We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis in PubMed, Cochrane, Embase, the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), and Web of Science databases. The Newcastle-Ottawa Scale (NOS) was used to assess the quality of the included studies. The meta-analysis was summarized using a random-effects or fixed-effects model, and the heterogeneity among studies was examined using the I2 statistic.

Findings: Six cohort studies with 1,656 participants were included in the final analysis. The NOS score for each study was greater than 6. Urinary incontinence was significantly associated with a higher risk for mortality in nursing homes, with a hazard ratio (HR) of 1.20 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.12-1.28, I(2) = 41.6%). The significant association of urinary incontinence with increased mortality risk was observed in subgroup analysis according to region, status of dementia, and follow-up period, with a pooled HR of 2.02 (95% CI 1.32-3.11, I(2) = 0%) for Asian countries, 1.18 (95% CI 1.11-1.26, I(2) = 41.6%) for Western countries, 1.17 (95% CI 1.09-1.26, I(2) = 0%) for patients with dementia, 1.35 (95% CI 1.13-1.60, I(2) = 58.9%) for patients without dementia, 1.16 (95% CI 1.07-1.25, I(2) = 43.2%) for studies with a follow-up period of 1 year, and 1.30 (95% CI 1.15-1.48, I(2) = 24.5%) for studies with a follow-up period of more than 1 year.

Conclusions: Urinary incontinence is associated with an increased risk for death among residents of care facilities. Therefore, it was necessary to screen the elderly dwelling in nursing homes who were experiencing or at risk for urinary incontinence with useful tools (e.g., overactive bladder symptom score, bladder control self-assessment questionnaire, three incontinence questions). In addition, early interventions strategies, such as weight loss, stopping smoking, pelvic floor muscle training, and medical and surgical treatments would contribute to decreasing the risk for urinary incontinence and preventing adverse outcomes in nursing home residents.

Clinical relevance: In our study, we found that the elderly with urinary incontinence who resided in nursing homes had a higher risk for mortality than those without urinary incontinence. Therefore, urinary incontinence in the elderly residing in nursing homes is of particular concern. Early detection and intervention are important for the elderly with urinary incontinence, and caregivers should be made aware of this importance.