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. 2023 Dec;14(6):1319-1325.
doi: 10.1007/s41999-023-00874-y. Epub 2023 Oct 14.

The relationship between urinary incontinence and abdominal muscle thickness in community-dwelling older women undergoing comprehensive geriatric assessment

Zeynep Sahiner  1 , Naside Mangır  2 , Merve Güner  3 , Serdar Ceylan  3 , Merve Hafizoglu  3 , Didem Karaduman  3 , Cansu Atbas  3 , Arzu Okyar Bas  3 , Yasemin Polat Özer  3 , Cafer Balcı  3 , Burcu Balam Dogu  3 , Meltem Halil  3 , Mustafa Cankurtaran  3
Affiliations

The relationship between urinary incontinence and abdominal muscle thickness in community-dwelling older women undergoing comprehensive geriatric assessment

Zeynep Sahiner et al. Eur Geriatr Med. 2023 Dec.

Abstract

Purpose: Urinary incontinence (UI) is one of the most common geriatric syndromes in older adults, especially in women. The aim of this study is to show the relationship between urinary incontinence and abdominal muscle thickness measured by muscle ultrasonography (US) in community-dwelling older women adults.

Methods: Eighty-seven community-dwelling older women participated in our study. The presence and the type of UI were recorded. Clinical and demographic characteristics were collected, and a comprehensive geriatric assessment was performed on all participants. Abdominal muscle layer thicknesses were evaluated with muscle US.

Results: The prevalence of UI was 55.2% (n = 48) of the study population. The median [IQR] age of the patients in the UI group was 73.0 [69.0-77.5] years and it was 69.0 [67.0-73.0] years in patients without UI (p = 0.007). Abdominal muscle thicknesses were measured smaller in patients with UI than those without UI except for internal oblique muscle thickness. The median [IQR] rectus abdominis muscle thickness was lower in patients with UI than in patients without UI, and the difference was statistically significant (p < 0.003). RA muscle was associated with UI regardless of age, polypharmacy, malnutrition, and frailty (OR: 0.58; 95% CI 0.38-0.89; p = 0.01).

Conclusions: We have shown that UI was independently related to the rectus abdominis muscle thickness, which may reflect the function and mass of the pelvic floor muscles.

Keywords: Abdominal muscle thickness; Older women; Urinary incontinence.

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Conflict of interest statement

There is no conflict of interest.

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