Stress urinary incontinence: a simple and practical approach to diagnosis and treatment.

A study to evaluate the efficacy of a simple and inexpensive diagnostic and therapeutic approach to stress incontinence in 46 elderly women is described. The treatment had two aspects: estrogens, both orally and topically, and a pelvic floor exercise program. The study shows that stress incontinence and stress incontinence with urgency incontinence in non-institutionalized, ambulant elderly women can be diagnosed and successfully treated in the great majority of cases without the need for expensive and potentially hazardous diagnostic and therapeutic modalities.