Urinary incontinence is defined as involuntary urine shedding. There are the several types: stress incontinence, urge incontinence, mixed incontinence, genuine stress incontinence, functional incontinence and finally complete incontinence. The objective of our study was to review literature with regards to the historical aspect of urinary incontinence as well as risk factors of urinary incontinence. It describes a number of factors that predispose to urinary incontinence, including number of births, surgeries, generalized weakness of the connective tissue, lack of sex hormones, lower genital tract. All these factors contribute to the relaxation of the pelvic floor and/or displacement located proximal urethra. The first fundamental research and discoveries in the field of physiology of the urinary system took place in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Review of recent literature confirms the already known factors influencing the development of urinary incontinence in women. Many of the papers published in recent years, draw attention to the fact that the problem of urinary incontinence put a new light on the role of diagnostic ultrasound of pelvic muscles and their influence on urinary incontinence. Future research should focus on the mechanism of labor and other risk factors, which affect particular pelvic organs, such as the urethra, bladder and pelvic floor muscles, which contribute to the development of urinary incontinence in women.

Key words: urinary incontinence, childbirth, pregnancy.