Incontinence Highly Prevalent in Overweight, Obese Women With Type 2 Diabetes

Urinary incontinence is highly prevalent in overweight and obese women with type 2 diabetes and far exceeds other diabetes complications, according to the results of a cross-sectional analysis reported ahead of print in the June 1 issue of Diabetes Care.

"Recent epidemiological evidence suggests that incontinence is associated with type 2 diabetes and is 50% to 200% more common among women with type 2 diabetes than among women with normal glucose levels," write Suzanne Phelan, PhD, from California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, and colleagues from the Action for Health in Diabetes (Look AHEAD) Research Group. "A likely etiology for incontinence in diabetes is microvascular damage, similar to the disease process involved in development of retinopathy, nephropathy, and neuropathy.. ..Few studies have examined both the prevalence and risk factors for overall and type of incontinence (urgency and stress incontinence) among different racial/ethnic groups of women with type 2 diabetes."

The goal of this cross-sectional analysis using data from the Look AHEAD study was to assess the prevalence and risk factors for urinary incontinence among different racial/ethnic groups of overweight and obese women with type 2 diabetes. Look AHEAD was a randomized clinical trial enrolling 2994 overweight/obese women with type 2 diabetes...more