Weight loss due to behavioral changes may bring out yet another change in obese women! It may lead to a reduction in the frequency of incontinence episodes in them. One of the latest studies carried out at University of California, San Francisco claims the reduction. The study was published in the January 29, 2009 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
The subjects of the study who were participants of Program to Reduce Incontinence by Diet and Exercise (PRIDE) reported experiencing both substantial weight loss as well as reduction in their urinary incontinence episodes.
"Earlier research has shown that behavioral weight-loss programs have many benefits, including decreasing blood pressure and helping to fight off diabetes. Here we’ve shown that weight loss has measureable impact on reduced incontinence," noted the co author of the study, Frank Franklin, M.D., Ph.D., a UAB professor.
Lead author of the study, Leslee L. Subak, opined that the obese women seeking treatment for the incontinence problem must include a weight loss program as the first line of defense. Subak said. “Our results suggest that a decrease in urinary incontinence can now be added to the extensive list of health benefits associated with weight loss.”
The strong relationship between urinary incontinence and obesity had been well established by many previous studies. According to one estimate in United States alone more that $ 20 Million is spent annually on health care costs for treatment of urinary incontinence by more than 13 million women suffering from the problem. The high figures impelled PRIDE team to find out evidence of the link between the two and positive effects of weight loss on incontinence problem.
“Improvement in urinary incontinence may be an additional way to motivate overweight women to make healthy lifestyle choices, such as weight loss and increased physical activity, impacting public health as well as an individual’s health and quality of life,” Subak said.