Abstract
Objectives
To evaluate the relationships between physical activity, both work and recreational,
and urinary incontinence among women.
Methods
We assessed women aged 20 years and older in 2008-2018 NHANES (National Health and
Nutrition Examination Survey) cycles who answered self-reported urinary incontinence
and physical activity questions. Weighted, multivariate logistic regression model
was used to determine the association between incontinence and physical activity levels
after adjusting for age, body mass index, diabetes, race, parity, menopause and smoking.
Results
A total of 30,213 women were included in analysis, of whom 23.15% had stress incontinence,
23.16% had urge incontinence, and 8.42% had mixed incontinence (answered “yes” to
both stress and urge incontinence). Women who engaged in moderate recreational activity
were less likely to report stress and urge incontinence (OR 0.79, 95% CI 0.62-0.99
and OR 0.66, 95% CI 0.48-0.90, respectively). Similarly, women who engaged in moderate
activity work were less likely to report stress, urge and mixed incontinence (OR 0.84,
95% CI 0.70-0.99; OR 0.84, 95% CI 0.72-0.99; and OR 0.66 95% CI 0.45-0.97, respectively).
Conclusions
Moderate physical activity and greater time spent participating in moderate physical
activity are associated with a decreased likelihood of stress, urge and mixed incontinence
in women. This relationship holds for both recreational and work-related activity.
We hypothesize that the mechanism of this relationship is multifactorial, with moderate
physical activity improving pelvic floor strength and modifying neurophysiological
mediators (such as stress) involved in the pathogenesis of incontinence.
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: October 09, 2021
Accepted:
September 7,
2021
Received:
June 28,
2021
Footnotes
Disclosure: The authors of this manuscript have no conflicts of interest to report.
Funding: None.
Identification
Copyright
© 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
