Stress Urinary Incontinence in Women with a History of Gestational Diabetes Mellitus

Abstract

Objective: Stress urinary incontinence may serve as a barrier to lifestyle modification among women at high risk for diabetes, but the prevalence of stress urinary incontinence among women with histories of gestational diabetes mellitus (hGDM) is unknown. The purpose of this study was to examine the prevalence of stress incontinence among women with hGDM and to examine its association with their current physical activity.

Methods: We surveyed women with hGDM within the past 5 years who were currently enrolled in a managed care plan (n = 228). In a cross-sectional analysis, self-reported weekly or more frequent stress incontinence was the primary independent variable and measures of physical activity and body mass index (BMI) were the outcomes of interest. We constructed multivariable models that adjusted for participant characteristics associated with the measure of incontinence or outcomes in bivariate analyses.

Results: Of the 228 women with hGDM, 49% reported weekly or more frequent incontinence during pregnancy, and 28% reported that incontinence affected their activities during pregnancy. Fifty percent reported weekly or more frequent incontinence after delivery, with 27% reporting interference of incontinence with activity. Less than a third of women reported optimal physical activity, and 42% were obese. After adjustment for characteristics associated with measures of activity and incontinence, there was minimal association between levels of activity and stress urinary incontinence; similarly, there was no association between BMI and measures of stress incontinence.

Conclusions: Stress urinary incontinence is common among women with hGDM but does not appear to be associated with physical activity levels or BMI.