Delia West, Ph.D., conducted a clinical trial on overweight women for this study that she co-authored with Leslee L. Subak. She asserts that the findings are noteworthy in improving women's overall health. West, the original researcher of this trial, is a professor of health behavior at UAMS Fay W. Boozman College of Public Health.
West commented, “Urinary incontinence is something that we are finding to be very common, but there aren't a whole lot of people willing to talk about it.”
Subak, said, “It has been well documented that behavioral weight-loss interventions decrease the risk of developing type 2 diabetes
define and high blood pressure, improve control of high blood pressure and cholesterol levels, and improve mood and quality of life.”
338 obese and overweight female participants volunteered for the Program to Reduce Incontinence by Diet and Exercise (PRIDE). All these women initially reported at least 10 episodes of urinary incontinence per week and were in age group of 42 to 64 years.
The volunteers were divided into two broad groups where one group was made to undergo a six-month rigorous weight-loss program including exercises, diet and behavior alteration. The other group was only given relevant information about benefits of exercising and diet but did not undergo any particular weight loss program.
Observations revealed that "weight-loss group" who lost about 17 pounds on an average reported weekly incontinence episodes reduced to almost half (roughly 47 percent decline) whereas "information group" lost an average of 3 pounds and reported 28 percent reduction in incontinence episodes.
Researchers believe that weight loss can improve stress incontinence (uncontrolled urination following coughing, sneezing or straining) much better than urge incontinencedefine.
"Weight-loss group" volunteers agreed that they experienced less urine loss by volume, fewer incontinence incidences and were happy with the changed state of incontinence in them compared to the "information group".
"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," said Subak.
The study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, was financed by the Office of Research on Women's Health (ORWH) and the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) jointly.
NIDDK director, Griffin P. Rodgers, said, "Clearly, weight loss can have a significant, positive impact on urinary incontinence, a finding that may help motivate weight loss, which has additional health benefits such as preventing type-2 diabetes."
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