What is the Difference Between Overactive Bladder and Urge Incontinence

The key difference between overactive bladder and urge incontinence is that overactive bladder is a condition characterized by urinary urgency, with or without incontinence, nocturia, and urinary frequency, while urge incontinence is a condition characterized by an urge to urinate, which leads to urine leakage.

Overactive bladder and urge incontinence are two related medical conditions. This is because people with an overactive bladder often experience urge incontinence. The treatments for both of these conditions include behavioral modification and pharmacotherapy. However, these conditions have different etiologies.

CONTENTS

1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What is an Overactive Bladder
3. What is Urge Incontinence
4. Similarities – Overactive Bladder and Urge Incontinence
5. Overactive Bladder vs. Urge Incontinence in Tabular Form
6. FAQ – Overactive Bladder and Urge Incontinence
7. Summary – Overactive Bladder vs. Urge Incontinence

What is an Overactive Bladder?

Overactive bladder is a condition that results in frequent and sudden urge to urinate that is very difficult to control. The symptoms of this condition may include feeling a sudden urge to urinate that is very difficult to control, experiencing unintentional loss of urine immediately after an urgent need to urinate, frequent urination, and waking up more than two times at night to urinate. The common causes of overactive bladder are neurological disorders, diabetes, poor kidney function, acute urinary tract infections, bladder stones, bladder cancer, high fluid intake, and obstructions in the bladder. Moreover, an overactive bladder can lead to complications such as emotional distress or depression, anxiety, sleep disturbances, and issues with sexuality.

Overactive bladder can be diagnosed through medical history, physical examination, urine test, blood tests, and neurological examination. Furthermore, treatment options for overactive bladder may include behavioral therapy, medications (tolterodine, oxybutynin, trospium, solifenacin, fesoterodine, and mirabegron), bladder injections, nerve stimulation, and surgery.

What is Urge Incontinence?

Urge incontinence is a type of urinary incontinence. This condition causes a sudden, urgent need to urinate. Urge incontinence can be caused by overactive bladder syndrome, menopause, and complications from other diseases (stroke, spinal cord damage, Parkinson’s disease, or multiple sclerosis). The symptoms of urge incontinence may include a sudden desire to pass urine, which people are not able to hold in, urinary frequency, and leaking urine, especially during sex. Moreover, the complications resulting from urge incontinence include skin problems, urinary tract infections, and an impact on personal life.

Urge incontinence can be diagnosed through physical examination, urinalysis, abdominal ultrasound, cystoscopy, and urodynamic testing (postvoid residual urine test). Furthermore, treatment options for urge incontinence may include pelvic floor exercise, quitting smoking, drinking less caffeine, loss of weight, taking high-fiber food to prevent constipation, managing conditions like diabetes, using the restroom at a set time, meditations (botulin toxin injections), nerve stimulation, augmentation cystoplasty surgery, and urinary diversion surgery.

What are the Similarities Between Overactive Bladder and Urge Incontinence?

• Overactive bladder and urge incontinence are two associated medical conditions.
• Urge incontinence can be present in people who have overactive bladder.
• Both these conditions can cause complications
• Both these conditions can be diagnosed through physical examination and imaging studies.
• They can be treated through medications, therapies, and surgeries.

What is the Difference Between Overactive Bladder and Urge Incontinence?

Overactive bladder is a condition characterized by urinary urgency, with or without incontinence, nocturia, and urinary frequency while urge incontinence is a condition characterized by an urge to urinate which leads to urine leakage. Thus, this is the key difference between overactive bladder and urge incontinence. Furthermore, an overactive bladder can lead to complications such as emotional distress or depression, anxiety, sleep disturbances, and issues with sexuality. On the other hand, urge incontinence can lead to complications such as skin problems, urinary tract infections, and the impact on personal life.

The infographic below presents the differences between overactive bladder and urge incontinence in tabular form for side-by-side comparison.

FAQ: Overactive Bladder and Urge Incontinence

What is the difference between urge incontinence and overflow incontinence?

What is an example of urge incontinence?

An example of urge incontinence is when you experience a sudden and intense urge to urinate, often leading to involuntary urine leakage before reaching the restroom.

How to tell the difference between overactive bladder and interstitial cystitis?

Overactive bladder (OAB) is characterized by a sudden urge to urinate and increased frequency, while interstitial cystitis (IC) involves chronic pelvic pain, discomfort, and, at times, blood in the urine. OAB is diagnosed clinically, while IC often requires tests like cystoscopy for a definitive diagnosis.

Summary – Overactive Bladder vs. Urge Incontinence

Overactive bladder and urge incontinence are two related medical conditions that can occur together. If individuals are experiencing frequent urination and an inability to control it, they may be dealing with urinary incontinence. Urge incontinence is often associated with an overactive bladder. However, an overactive bladder is specifically characterized by urinary urgency, with or without incontinence, nocturia, and increased urinary frequency. In essence, this distinction summarizes the difference between overactive bladder and urge incontinence.

Reference:

1. “Overactive Bladder (OAB): Causes, Symptoms & Treatment.” Cleveland Clinic.
2. “Urinary Incontinence & Overactive Bladder (OAB) Health Center.” WebMD.

Image Courtesy:

1. “Urinary Incontinence” By Scientific Animations.com (CC BY-SA 4.0) via Commons Wikimedia
2. “Illu bladder” By U.S. National Cancer Institute's Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) Program –  (Public Domain) via Commons Wikimedia