A recent survey shows that more than 12 percent of men in Beijing suffer urinary incontinence and doctors said on Tuesday that figure will continue to grow due to the increasing number of elderly people in the city.

"Urinary incontinence is an involuntary leakage of urine and it is a common and distressing problem, which may have a profound impact on quality of life," said Liao Limin, an urologist from the Chinese Urological Association.

"Sufferers can leak urine when they laugh or jump. In some cases, a sneeze will also lead to the same embarrassing result. The frequency of leaking, if high, can lead to psychological problems."

The survey said the risk for a severely incontinent patient to become depressed is three times higher than the risk for the general population. Most sufferers surveyed showed obsessive or depressed mental conditions and half of them had unsatisfactory sex lives.

Liao said there are 200 million people worldwide suffering from urinary incontinence. About 24 percent to 45 percent of women in the world have had urinary incontinence problems at least once in their lives (after reaching the age of 18) and the rate in China is over 30 percent.

"The number of people over 60 years old in China will reach to 430 million by 2050. Urinary incontinence is more common among elderly people and the condition will be much more widespread at that time," he said.

China Rehabilitation Research Center held a free lecture on treatment and prevention of urinary incontinence for citizens on June 27 in Beijing. More than 300 people attended.

"My wife had this problem several years ago when she was 50 years old and it sometimes happened at night. She is a woman who has kept clean and tidy her whole life and felt ashamed to discuss her problems with doctors," said a 57-year-old citizen surnamed Zhou.

"We didn't know that there are many options to deal with this problem. But the most important thing we've learned is not let the problem became a burden," he said.

Liu Jun, an urologist from the General Military Hospital of Beijing, said that about 100 patients visit the hospital's urological department every day, about 20 percent of them with urinary incontinence problems.

Treatment options range from conservative treatment, behavior management and medications to surgery.

"If you can not recover completely, adult diapers or incontinence pads are also helpful. The most important thing is not to get stressed due to the problem," he said.

The Beijing bureau of human resources and social security released a notice earlier this month, saying the cost of adult diapers or incontinence pads can be covered by medical insurance. The insurance company will charge no more than 750 yuan for each patient per month.

Wang Wen contributed to the story.