Title

Clinical Research in Diabetes and Urinary Incontinence: What We Know and Need to Know

Author Info

Suzanne Phelan, California Polytechnic State University - San Luis ObispoFollow
Francine Grodstein, University of California - San Francisco
Jeanette S. Brown, Harvard University

Recommended Citation

Postprint version. Published in The Journal of Urology, Volume 182, Issue Supplement 6, December 1, 2009, pages S14-S17.

The definitive version is available at https://doi.org/10.1016/j.juro.2009.07.087.

Abstract

Purpose: We discuss epidemiological and clinical trial research in women with urinary incontinence and diabetes, and provide directions for future research.
Materials and Methods: Published epidemiological and clinical trial literature examining diabetes and incontinence is presented.
Results: Multiple studies have now confirmed that the prevalence and incidence of incontinence is increased in women with type 2 diabetes. Emerging evidence also suggests higher incontinence rates in women with type 1 diabetes or prediabetes. Clinical trial research suggests that weight loss can decrease incontinence in women with prediabetes. An ongoing multicenter trial will examine the effects of weight loss on incontinence in women with type 2 diabetes. Limited trial data in those with type 1 diabetes suggest that intensive glycemic control does not appear to decrease the long-term risk of incontinence in women with type 1 diabetes.
Conclusions: Future research is needed to identify the risk factors, mechanisms, and most effective treatment and prevention strategies to decrease urinary incontinence in women with type 1 or 2 diabetes, or prediabetes. Physicians should be alert for urinary incontinence because it is often not reported and, therefore, it is under treated in women with diabetes and prediabetes.

Disciplines

Kinesiology

Copyright

2009 The American Urological Association.

Publisher statement

Published by Elsevier.