Obesity has been acknowledged as a strong independent risk factor in the development of urinary incontinence, medical experts say, mentioning results of various clinical studies. A five-unit increase in body mass index (BMI) has been established as being linked to a 20 to 70 percent increase in urinary incontinence risk.

Conversely, weight reduction has been found to lead to significant improvements in the symptoms of urinary incontinence particularly stress urinary incontinence (SUI), according to various studies. The use of surgical methods or the more conservative approaches have been found to be equally effective in achieving the reduction of weight. In treating this pelvic floor disorder, health care practitioners and study authors are in agreement that this option should be considered as a first line treatment.

A scientific research performed by Drs. Leslee Subak, Holly  Richter, and Steinar Hunskaar which was published in the Journal of Urology detailed the results of different studies conducted on this subject. Published community-based prevalence studies where multivariate analysis was made on the association of urinary incontinence and obesity in women were included in this paper. Also taken into account were the longitudinal studies and randomized, controlled trials highlighting the effects of the different methods of weight reduction.

Involving 28,000 women as subjects, the Norwegian Epidemiology of Incontinence in the County of Nord-Tronelag study is one such research which associated urinary incontinence with increasing weight and BMI. A five-unit increase in BMI was determined to result to a 20 to 70 percent increase in the risk of daily incontinence. Urinary incontinence was noted to be prevalent in 60 to 70 percent in obese women who had a BMI of over 40 kg/m2.

A strong correlation between BMI and the onset of stress urinary incontinence was also revealed in a study conducted in the United Kingdom which involved 6,424 overweight and obese women. That higher BMI was associated with higher odds of urinary incontinence was also reported in the American Nurses’ Health Study II which included 35,754 women. Odds ratio was 2.1 for at least a monthly incontinence, 3.85 for at least weekly incontinence, and 5.52 for severe urinary incontinence for women with a BMI of 35 kg/m2 when compared to those with BMI of only 21 to 22.9 kg/m2.

Several observational studies reported that obese women with BMI greater than 45 kg/m2 and who were diagnosed with incontinence experienced significant improvement after a weight loss of 45 to 50 kilograms through bariatric surgery. It was also revealed in a study involving 138 women that SUI decreased from 61 percent to 12 percent after stabilizing their weight in two to five years. Similar results of reduction of SUI prevalence was shown in a study of 101 women who had a reduction of the incontinence from 67 percent to 37 percent in 12 months.

All these clearly show the strong connection between excess weight and the incidence of urinary incontinence making obesity a prime risk factor of this condition. Providing encouragement to all the women who may be at risk of developing urinary incontinence, findings of related studies have shown that obesity is a modifiable risk factor.

This very common pelvic disorder is not only be prevented with the maintenance of the ideal weight or reduction of excess pounds but also benefits women by sparing them the possibility of undergoing vaginal mesh surgeries to treat this condition. Due to the severe complications attributed to vaginal mesh devices, the use of these implants has become very controversial. Serious injuries sustained by thousands of women have led to the filing of vaginal mesh lawsuits against different manufacturers. Learn more about this by checking vaginalmeshlawsuitscenter.com.

Reference:

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov