Incontinence Common in Women With Type 1 Diabetes

UTIs and increased weight associated with higher risk of urinary incontinence

20 june 2009-- Urinary tract infections (UTIs) and increased weight are associated with higher risk of urinary incontinence in women with type 1 diabetes, according to research published in the June issue of Urology.

Aruna V. Sarma, Ph.D., of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and colleagues analyzed data from a follow-up study on 550 women with type 1 diabetes who had participated in a trial comparing intensive insulin treatment with conventional therapy with fewer daily injections.

The researchers discovered that 17 percent of the women reported at least weekly urinary incontinence during the previous year. Higher body mass index -- per each unit of increase -- was associated with weekly incontinence (odds ratio, 1.1). Older age, per 5 years, and having at least two UTIs during the previous year were also associated with weekly urge incontinence (odds ratios, 1.4 and 4.9, respectively). However, the authors note, women who had been assigned to intensive treatment didn't have decreased incontinence risk.

"We found evidence that young and middle-age women with type 1 diabetes have a high prevalence of weekly incontinence but no suggestion that intensive glycemic therapy is likely to prevent or reduce incontinence in this population. The association of incontinence with increasing weight and previous UTIs suggests that weight reduction and UTI treatment among women with type 1 diabetes might have the additional benefit of preventing incontinence or reducing its severity," the authors conclude.

Abstract
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