This retrospective study investigated the relationship between the volume of oral fluid intake and the frequency of voluntary micturitions and urinary incontinent episodes. The sample consisted of 126 community-dwelling women who were age 55 years or older, ambulatory, mentally intact, and participants in a clinical trial on behavioral management for urinary incontinence. All subjects kept fluid and urinary diaries for 1 week. Analyses of Pearson's correlation coefficients between mean daily oral fluid volume intake and mean daily diurnal and nocturnal micturitions and urinary incontinent episodes were performed in women with sphincteric incompetence alone (N = 89), and those with detrusor instability with or without concomitant sphincteric incompetence (N = 37). The results indicated only weak positive correlations between fluid intake and voluntary micturitions. Similar weak positive correlations were observed with incontinent episodes even after controlling for the effect of diuretic use or urodynamic characterization. Modest positive relationships between fluid intake and the urinary variables were found in subjects with pure sphincteric incompetence. No correlations were found in subjects with detrusor instability. Additional analyses of these relationships suggests that fluid intake may have different effects based on the seventy of the incontinence syndrome, and that these effects may vary by pathophysiologic condition. We conclude that the volume of fluid intake does not strongly influence voluntary micturition patterns or frequency of urinruy incontinent episodes in community dwelling women.