Abdominal fat and incontinence

Middle-aged women with more abdominal fat have a higher risk of stress urinary incontinence, according to a new study, HealthDay News reports.

Fat around the waist and visceral organs increases a woman's risk of leaking when she sneezes, coughs, or strains by 33 percent, researchers reported in the journal Menopause.

“Abdominal obesity can cause pelvic tissues to face chronic tension and stretching, which eventually weakens pelvic floor structures,” wrote the research team led by Mari Kuutti, a doctoral researcher at the University of Jyvaskyla in Finland.

The risk of bladder leaks was also associated with overall body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference, the researchers found. BMI is an estimate of body fat based on height and weight.

In fact, the team concluded that BMI and waist circumference probably work as well as more accurate measurements of body fat in determining a woman's risk of stress incontinence.

In the study, researchers followed the health of 376 women living in the Jyvaskyla region of Finland. They were between 47 and 55 years old at the start of the study.

The team used a variety of methods to analyze the women's body fat mass, including bioelectrical impedance and X-ray scans.

“We studied body adiposity, measured participants' waist circumferences, and calculated their body mass index,” Kuutti said. “We then analyzed the associations of these factors with symptoms of pelvic floor disorders.”

The results showed that higher levels of body fat, as well as a higher BMI and a larger waist circumference, were associated with an increased risk of stress urinary incontinence.

The highest risk was associated with android fat, that is, excess fat stored around the stomach, chest, and upper back.

However, the researchers noted that women with severe obesity (a BMI greater than 35) were specifically excluded from the study, indicating that lower amounts of excess weight may contribute to stress incontinence.

Future research is needed to show whether weight loss could reduce this risk or serve as a treatment for stress incontinence, the researchers said.