Urinary incontinence significantly associated with disability for midlife women

Key takeaways:

• Urinary incontinence was linked to disability, particularly in the domains of mobility, communication and life activities.
• Associations were strongest for mixed urinary incontinence type and daily frequency.

For midlife women, urinary incontinence has a strong association with multiple disability domains, including mobility and social engagement, according to study findings published in Menopause.

“Urinary incontinence is not a benign condition nor normal part of aging. Women with urinary incontinence need a specific assessment and treatment regimen. They should not be told to just live with it,” Sheila A. Dugan, MD, professor in the department of physical medicine and rehabilitation and chairperson at Rush Medical College, told Healio. “The type, amount and frequency of urinary incontinence matters. The association between urinary incontinence and disability was greatest for mixed urinary incontinence and more frequent or larger amounts.”

Dugan and colleagues evaluated longitudinal questionnaire data from 1,801 women (mean age, 61.8 years) who participated in the multicenter, prospective cohort Study of Women’s Health Across the Nation (SWAN) to assess whether urinary incontinence type, frequency and amount were associated with self-reported disability among midlife women. Researchers assessed urinary incontinence at the 13th follow-up visit and checked for associations with WHO’s Disability Assessment Schedule at the 15th follow-up visit.

Urinary incontinence was associated with subsequent disability reports, particularly in the domains for mobility (P < .0001), communication (P = .0057) and life activities (P = .0407). Associations were stronger for mixed urinary incontinence type compared with stress or urgency urinary incontinence (OR = 1.66; 95% CI, 1.26-2.17; P < .001). Associations were also stronger for daily urinary incontinence frequency compared with monthly or less than weekly frequency (OR = 1.61; 95% CI, 1.04-2.47; P < .001).

In addition, larger amounts of urine leakage for urinary incontinence were more strongly associated with the mobility disability domain compared with drops of leakage (OR = 2.98; 95% CI, 1.58-5.62; P < .0001).

“Research to explore the association between urinary incontinence and disability is key to understanding the mechanism and creating interventions to reduce disability in midlife and older women,” Dugan said.

For more information:

Sheila A. Dugan, MD, can be reached at sheila_dugan@rush.edu.