Overactive Bladder, Urinary Incontinence Common in Middle-Aged Women

Dec. 22, 2021 (HealthDay News) — Nearly one in five Japanese women report urinary incontinence related to overactive bladder (OAB) or stress urinary incontinence, according to a study published online Nov. 12 in Menopause.

Kazue Nagai, Ph.D., from Gunma University in Japan, and colleagues investigated the prevalence and factors associated with urinary symptoms in women. The analysis included 12,198 participants in the Japan Nurses’ Health Study (mean age, 46.5 years).

The researchers found that the prevalence of OAB was 9.5 percent (OAB with urinary incontinence [wet], 5.4 percent; OAB without urinary incontinence, 4.1 percent), while the prevalence of stress urinary incontinence (without OAB-wet) was 13.9 percent and the prevalence of mixed urinary incontinence was 2.1 percent. There was a significant association observed between OAB and age 45 to 54 years, with a moderate association between postmenopausal status and OAB. In the multivariable-adjusted model, there were significant associations with stress urinary incontinence (without OAB-wet) among age groups 45 to 49 years and 50 to 54 years, body mass index 23 to 27.4 and ≥27.5 kg/m2, and parous status.

“This study underscores how common urinary incontinence is in women,” Stephanie Faubion, M.D., medical director of the North American Menopause Society, said in a statement. “Given the significant negative effect on quality of life and the presence of effective strategies for management of these burdensome symptoms, clinicians should routinely ask women about urinary incontinence.”