Leaking urine: Prevalence and associated factors in Australian women

Abstract

The Women's Health Australia project provided the opportunity to examine the prevalence of leaking urine and associated variables in three large cohorts of Australian women 18–23 years of age (“young” N = 14,761), 45–50 (“mid‐age” N = 14,070), and 70–75 (“older” N = 12,893). The proportion of women reporting leaking urine was 12.8% (95% CI: 12.2–13.3), 36.1% (35.2– 37.0), and 35% (34.1– 35.9) in each of the three cohorts, respectively. Logistic regression analysis showed significant associations between leaking urine and parity in the young and mid‐age women, and between leaking urine and constipation, other bowel symptoms, body mass index, and urine that burns or stings in all three groups. In the mid‐age and older cohorts, women who reported having both hysterectomy and prolapse repair, or prolapse repair alone, were also more likely to report leaking urine. Lower scores on the physical and mental component summary scores of the medical outcomes survey short form (36 items) questionnaire suggest lower quality of life among women who report leaking urine, compared with those who do not. Neurourol. Urodynam. 18:567–577, 1999. © 1999 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.

Body weight through adult life and risk of urinary incontinence in middle-aged women: results from a British prospective cohort

“…A number of crosssectional studies have also found a significant association between BMI and incontinence, but have not distinguished between symptoms of stress or urge incontinence. 12,13,16,17 Although BMI has been most closely linked with stress incontinence, only a handful of studies have shown an association with urge incontinence in women. 8,15,35 In this study, the raised risk of urge incontinence was only restricted to women who were obese at the age 36 and 43 years and was considerably attenuated in the fully adjusted model.…”

“…11 It was the first prospective study to show that childhood enuresis was associated with urge incontinence at 48 years of age (regular bedwetters at age 6 years had twice the risk) than the remaining sample. 11 Studies that have identified a relationship between higher body weight in midlife and incontinence have been either cross-sectional [12][13][14][15][16][17][18] or short-term studies. [19][20][21][22] Obesity, particularly in the abdominal area, may cause incontinence through increased intra-abdominal pressure.…”

Risk factors for urinary incontinence among middle-aged women

“…Chiarelli et al 17 found a 36% prevalence of any self-reported leakage during the past year among 14,070 Australian women aged 45 to 50 years. In a review of 13 general population studies, Hunskaar et al reported a 30% to 40% prevalence of incontinence among middle-aged women.…”

“…Our findings are comparable to the SWAN study, which found a 62% (95% CI 31% -101%) increased risk of any leakage in parous women compared with nulliparous women aged 42-52 years. 9 In the Women's Health Australia project, Chiarelli et al 17 observed similar odds of leaking urine among women with one childbirth (adjusted OR=1.58, 95% CI 1.29-1.93) and women with two childbirths (adjusted OR=1.81, 95% CI 1.54-2.12). Additionally, as expected, 8 the odds ratios in these younger women were somewhat higher than those we had found in our cohort of older nurses.…”

Factors related to lower urinary tract symptoms among a sample of employed women in Taipei

“…1,5,13,25,26 Procedures Institutional review board (IRB) approval was obtained from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill IRB for this study and the procedures are more fully described in a recent publication. 18 Twenty six elementary schools were selected from the 152 elementary schools in Taipei by using the systematic sampling method with pps and a second stage simple random sampling of 20 female teachers in each school was conducted.…”