Urinary incontinence, involuntary urination, is the involuntary urination as drops or intensely because the bladder control is lost. This health problem is more common in women.

The severity can vary and it can be seen as urination by drops when the patient laughs, coughs or when his/her intra-abdominal pressure increases (stress incontinence) or it can be seen as suddenly feeling that you need to urinate but cannot make it to the toilet (urge incontinence). Sometimes it can be the mix of the two types (mix type incontinence).

If the severity of urinary incontinence affects the quality of daily life, the patient must visit a doctor.

For the majority of the patients, with simple lifestyle changes and simple medical treatments serious results can be acquired and the incontinence can be treated.

What are the causes of incontinence?
Bladder infections, bladder infection in women, vagina infections, bladder stones, tumours, prostate enlargement and bladder exit occlusion can cause a highly active bladder. Again with women, fistulas that occur in the urinary tracts between bladder and vagina or kidney and bladder can be the cause of continuous involuntary urination.
Alcoholism and diabetes can be the causes of damages on the nerves that cause overflow type incontinence.
For girls, rarely, the urinary tract that should lead to the bladder can lead to somewhere else (ectopic ureter) and this can cause continuous incontinence. These kids can go to the toilet regularly and in addition to their normal urination they can also continuously urinate involuntarily. The urinary incontinence in kids at night (nocturnal) or at daytime (diurnal) is called enuresis. Compression in the spinal cord can cause neural dependent urinary incontinence and dysfunction; constipation can cause infection and urinary incontinence.
Various surgical operations can cause urinary incontinence for both genders. Operations aimed for the treatment of prostate cancer, other prostate and bladder neck operations, operations around the bladder and sphincter, operations that can cause sphincter failure in women, and fistulas can be regarded as causes.
Drugs can also cause or make incontinence more easy.  Muscle relaxant drugs, drugs that lower the tension, diuretics, tranquillizers, anti-depression drugs, allergy drugs are in this group.