Issue 174 Item 2 Higher Prevalence of Urinary Incontinence in Patients with Diab

According to findings presented at the 24th Annual American Urogynecologic Society meeting, diabetes and urinary incontinence are two independent conditions commonly seen in daily medical practice that are both associated with increased morbidity. Correlation between the two conditions, however, has not been well studied.

Cindi Lewis and colleagues, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico, conducted a study to determine the prevalence of incontinence in patients with diabetes.

The study included survey data from 10,893 women aged 50 to 90 years olds. The analysis evaluated the number of days with incontinence episodes per month and the presence and severity of diabetes. Data were weighted with regards to age, gender, race and ethnicity to better reflect the United States population.

Analysis found that the incidence of diabetes was significantly higher in the Hispanic and African American populations than in the Caucasian population. It also found that diabetic patients had a higher mean weight of 21.3 lbs over patients without diabetes.

Patients with diabetes also showed a significantly higher incidence of incontinence, which was reported in 31.0% of diabetics compared to 23.2% of non-diabetics. The higher prevalence of incontinence was observed at all ages and even when data were adjusted for weight.

Further analysis also determined that patients with severe diabetes that required insulin medication showed a greater incidence of incontinence than patients with mild or no diabetes.

From the analysis Dr. Lewis concluded, that diabetics have a high prevalence of incontinence and severity of diabetes is associated with increasing incontinence independent of patient weight. "It may be important to screen all women with diabetes for urinary incontinence."

[Study title: Diabetes and Urinary Incontinence: A Population Based Study. Abstract: Oral Poster 27]

===============================

DID YOU KNOW:
The Diabetes Education Society offers online accredited continuing education programs. Got an hour, take a course. Visit www.MedEdOps.org, take the free sample course and review the Course Catalog. Then update yourself and your staff to meet your Education Recognition requirements. For more information call (800) 659-5808.