Weight loss and urinary incontinence.(Health News in Brief)(Brief article)

Weight loss reduced the frequency of the number of incontinence episodes in women who are overweight or obese, according to one study of women with urinary incontinence. Losing 8% of body weight was associated with a 47% reduction in the number of incontinence episodes each day. At the start of this study, the participants reported that they experienced 24 episodes of stress, urge, or mixed incontinence a week.

After six months of diet, exercise, education, and encouragement, this figure had dropped to an average of 13 episodes a week in the intervention group--that is, the group that lost weight. Whereas, the women assigned to the control group--who merely had four education sessions about healthy lifestyles--reported 17 incontinence episodes a week. The women in the weight loss group were significantly more satisfied with the improvement.

N Engl J Med 2009;360:481-90

Maryann Napoli, Center for Medical Consumers[c] 2009

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