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. 2009 Jan;181(1):193-7.
doi: 10.1016/j.juro.2008.09.007. Epub 2008 Nov 14.

Type 2 diabetes mellitus and risk of stress, urge and mixed urinary incontinence

Kim N Danforth  1 , Mary K Townsend, Gary C Curhan, Neil M Resnick, Francine Grodstein
Affiliations

Type 2 diabetes mellitus and risk of stress, urge and mixed urinary incontinence

Kim N Danforth et al. J Urol. 2009 Jan.

Abstract

Purpose: To improve the understanding of the etiological relation between type 2 diabetes and urinary incontinence, we examined associations between diabetes and urinary incontinence type in 71,650 women 37 to 79 years old in the Nurses' Health Study and the Nurses' Health Study II.

Materials and methods: From 1976 to 2000 in the Nurses' Health Study and 1989 to 2001 in the Nurses' Health Study II participants reported diagnoses of type 2 diabetes. Women with incident urinary incontinence at least weekly were identified from 2000 to 2002 in the Nurses' Health Study and 2001 to 2003 in the Nurses' Health Study II. We pooled data from the 2 cohorts, and estimated odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals using multivariable logistic regression adjusting for age, parity, body mass index, smoking, hysterectomy, functional limitations, menopausal status, postmenopausal hormone use, incontinence promoting medications and study cohort.

Results: The incidence of at least weekly urinary incontinence was 5.3% (3,612 of 67,984) among women without type 2 diabetes and 8.7% (318 of 3,666) among women with diabetes. Overall the multivariable adjusted odds of incident urinary incontinence were increased 20% (OR 1.2, 95% CI 1.0-1.3, p = 0.01) among women with vs without type 2 diabetes. This increase appeared largely explained by significantly greater odds of urge urinary incontinence (OR 1.4, 95% CI 1.0-1.9, p = 0.03). There was no apparent association between diabetes and stress (p = 0.3) or mixed (p = 0.6) urinary incontinence, although confidence intervals were somewhat wide.

Conclusions: Our findings suggest that type 2 diabetes may especially influence urge urinary incontinence. Further research is needed to confirm this finding and identify pathways linking these conditions.

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Comment in

  • Diabetic cystopathy--what does it mean?
    Brown JS. Brown JS. J Urol. 2009 Jan;181(1):13-4. doi: 10.1016/j.juro.2008.10.078. Epub 2008 Nov 13. J Urol. 2009. PMID: 19012909 Free PMC article. No abstract available.

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