Overweight women with bladder-control problems experience improvement in their condition if they lose even a modest amount of weight.
Excess weight, particularly in the abdomen, is a known risk factor for urinary incontinence, and studies have found that shedding those extra pounds can help prevent the problem or reduce symptoms. However, it has not been known exactly how much weight women need to lose in order to see a significant improvement in symptoms.
To find out the relation between amount of weight loss and changes in urinary incontinence, researchers studied 338 overweight and obese British women with urinary incontinence and a control group of 112 women, with both groups having an average age of 53 years. Over 18 months, the women kept diaries tracking their weekly urinary incontinence symptoms. Women were randomly assigned to either a weight-loss programme focused on diet, exercise and behaviour change, or to a control group that received only education on healthy lifestyle and weight loss.
Women randomly assigned to the intervention group were prescribed a reduced-calorie diet of 1,200 to 1,800 calories per day, and worked their way up to exercising for about 3 hours per week - with activities like brisk walking. They also attended weekly group meetings focused on lifestyle change. Women in the control group were offered classes that gave general advice on diet, exercise and weight loss, with a total of seven classes over 18 months.
It was found that women who shed between 5 and 10 percent of their initial weight were two to four times more likely than women who gained weight to report a significant reduction in their incontinence symptoms. Fifty-four percent of those who lost weight reported a decline in symptoms at the 18-month mark, compared with 37 percent of women who gained weight. A significant reduction of symptoms was defined as a decline of at least 70 percent in the number of incontinence episodes a woman had each week.
This study shows that shedding extra weight can help prevent as well as reduce the symptoms of urinary incontinence.