HOME HELP SUBSCRIBE ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS FEEDBACK EDITORIAL BOARD ABOUT DOC NEWS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Goldfarb, B. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Goldfarb, B. Social Bookmarking                What's this?

Study Suggests Incontinence Common in Obese Female Teens

Stress urinary incontinence, often considered a condition of older women, may affect obese adolescents in larger numbers than widely believed.

Two-thirds of girls 12–17 years old who responded to a survey by University of Minnesota (UM) researchers reported urine leakage at some time, according to a report presented at the Obesity Society (formerly NAASO), held last October.

"Leaking urine into underwear during the day is a pretty horrible thing for a young woman," says pediatric gastroenterologist Sarah Jane Schwarzenberg, MD, director of the UM weight-management program.

Pediatric endocrinology fellow Betsy Schwartz, MD, headed up the project to survey 24 obese girls with an average body mass index (BMI) of 39.3 and 8 nonobese girls with an average BMI of 22.5.

Of the obese girls, 67% reported urine leakage "at some time," while 58% reported urinary incontinence on a regular basis. Forty-five percent of obese respondents reported leaking urine less than once a month, 14% reported incontinence one or more times per week, and one respondent reported urinary incontinence on a daily basis.

Stress incontinence affects 5–10% of the adult population, but reliable data about its prevalence in a younger female population are not available. Schwarzenberg says she is surprised by how common the problem appears to be in a younger population of obese patients.

"When I started doing weight management, I never anticipated incontinence as a complication," she says.

In morbidly obese people, intra-abdominal pressures can reach levels comparable to acute compartment syndrome. Schwarzenberg says researchers don't know whether urinary incontinence in young patients is the result of excessive intra-abdominal pressure, weakened muscles of the pelvic floor, or some other mechanism.

Although medications and surgical remedies are available for some forms of urinary stress incontinence in adults, little information exists about how to treat younger patients, Schwarzenberg says. Losing weight improves the problem for many patients, she adds

While urinary incontinence appears to be common in obese adolescent girls, few of the respondents sought treatment for the problem, suggesting that the condition may be under-recognized in this population. Health care providers should include questions about incontinence during office visits.

"If you don't ask about [incontinence], they won't tell you," says Schwarzenberg.

Since the study that was reported at the Obesity Society, Schwarzenberg and colleagues have begun asking more patients about urinary incontinence and are studying the problem in "a more systematic way."

CiteULike    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?

Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Goldfarb, B. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Goldfarb, B. Social Bookmarking                What's this?