WEDNESDAY, Jan. 28 (HealthDay News) -- In overweight and obese women with urinary incontinence, a six-month weight-loss program significantly reduces the frequency of self-reported incontinence episodes, researchers report in the Jan. 29 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
Leslee L. Subak, M.D., of the University of California San Francisco, and colleagues randomly assigned 338 women (mean age 53) who reported at least 10 urinary-incontinence episodes per week to either a weight-loss program that included diet, exercise and behavior modification, or a structured education program.
After six months, the researchers found that the women in the intervention group lost significantly more body weight than controls (8 percent versus 1.6 percent) and reported a significantly higher decrease in the mean weekly number of incontinence episodes (47 percent versus 28 percent). The investigators also found that a higher proportion of women in the intervention group achieved a clinically significant 70 percent reduction of all incontinence episodes, stress-incontinence episodes and urge-incontinence episodes.
"Previous studies have indicated that behavioral weight-loss interventions can decrease the risk of type 2 diabetes and hypertension, improve control of hypertension and hyperlipidemia, and improve mood and quality of life," the authors conclude. "Our results suggest that a decrease in urinary incontinence may be another benefit among the health improvements associated with moderate weight loss and support consideration of weight reduction as a first-line treatment for overweight and obese women with incontinence."
Several of the study authors disclosed financial support from pharmaceutical companies.
Abstract
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