Leaky bladder affects young women too

Reuters – 2 hrs 20 mins ago NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Bladder control problems may be seen as a problem of older people, but a good percentage of college-age women have symptoms too, a study published Monday suggests.

In a survey of 1,000 young Australian women, researchers found that 13 percent said they'd had urinary incontinence in the past month. That meant problems like leaking urine when they exercised, or often having to rush to the bathroom to avert an accident.

"The traditional belief has been that incontinence really occurs as a consequence of pregnancy and aging," senior researcher Susan R. Davis, of Monash University in Melbourne, said in an email.

"What prompted us to undertake this study was the fact that nobody had actually looked at incontinence in younger women who had never been pregnant," said Davis, whose work was supported by Australian state and federal funds.

The study "contributes significantly to current knowledge about urinary incontinence in young women," said Mary K. Townsend, an epidemiologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston.

Townsend, who was not involved in the research, has studied the prevalence of urinary incontinence and possible risk factors for it.

"Overall, a key message from this study is that urinary incontinence is a significant problem for women of all ages," Townsend said in an email.

But, she noted, the 13 percent figure could be either an underestimate or overestimate.

That's because the study participants, who were about 22 years old on average, were recruited from college campuses and health clinics. So they may not be representative of all young women.

"It will be important for future studies to confirm these results in a larger, population-based sample of young women," Townsend said.

LINK TO BIRTH CONTROL USE

The study, which appears in the Annals of Internal Medicine, also tried to weed out the possible risk factors for urinary incontinence in young, never-pregnant women.

It turned out that women were sexually active and not using birth control pills had the highest risk: about 22 percent had urinary problems in the past month.

That compared with rates of around 10 percent among women who had either never had sex or were sexually active and on the Pill.

The link to sexual activity might be related to urinary tract infections, Townsend speculated. Sexually active women have a higher rate of UTI, and those infections can trigger incontinence.

But the reasons for the birth control finding are not clear.

Townsend said past studies have come to conflicting conclusions on whether birth control pills are related to higher or lower risks of urinary incontinence -- or whether there's a relationship at all.

She and Davis both said more research is needed to see whether birth control pills, themselves, have any effect on bladder control problems.

There was no strong evidence that overweight young women had an increased risk of incontinence. And that's in contrast to what's been seen among older women.

But Davis said that may be because of numbers: only 15 percent of the study participants were overweight. And as a group, they were fairly healthy and physically active.

"This leaves open the possibility that the rate of incontinence we observed may in fact be an underestimate of the rate in a less healthy group of young women," Davis said.

Both she and Townsend said that young women who find their urinary symptoms troublesome should seek help. In this study, women with symptoms scored lower on a measure of mood and psychological well-being.

"I think the most important take-home message is that if young women experience urinary incontinence they should not feel embarrassed to seek help," Davis said.

There are different options for combating the symptoms, she noted.

Sometimes all you need are lifestyle changes -- like cutting back on caffeine and alcohol, and limiting how much fluid you drink at night.

Another option is "bladder training," which involves tactics like going to the bathroom at fixed times, even if you don't feel like you need to go. That often includes Kegel exercises to strengthen the pelvic muscles that control urination.

Depending on the type of incontinence, medications -- like oxybutynin (Ditropan), solifenacin (Vesicare), tolterodine (Detrol) -- may also help. But research shows that they work for only a minority of women, and they can have side effects like dry mouth, constipation and blurred vision.

SOURCE: http://bit.ly/PdxBlf Annals of Internal Medicine, July 17, 2012.

View the Original article

Incontinence Affects Young Childless Women, Too

HealthDay – 2 hrs 2 mins ago TUESDAY, July 17 (HealthDay News) -- Urinary incontinence is often thought of as a problem that occurs after childbirth or in old age, but a new study finds that many young women who have never given birth have the bothersome condition, too.

Researchers in Australia surveyed more than 1,000 women aged 16 to 30 who had never been pregnant and found that one in eight, or nearly 13 percent, reported having urinary incontinence.

Urinary incontinence means leaking urine during certain activities such as running or sneezing, or being unable to hold urine with a full bladder.

Previous research has found the rates are higher among women who've had children. But this study shows that urinary incontinence can affect women of all ages, regardless of pregnancy history, and that the condition may be underdiagnosed and undertreated in younger women, experts said.

"Although incontinence is more prevalent as women age and with an increasing number of pregnancies, incontinence can affect women of all ages," said Dr. Jill Rabin, professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Hofstra North Shore-LIJ School of Medicine, who was not involved with the study.

The study, by Tessa O'Halloran and colleagues at Monash University, in Melbourne, is published in the July 17 issue of Annals of Internal Medicine.

The women who answered the survey came from eight medical clinics and three university campuses in Australia. They were asked to complete a questionnaire about an important issue in women's health, but were not told it was about urinary incontinence prior to filling it out. About 63 percent of those who took surveys returned them.

Commenting on the study, Dr. Elizabeth Kavaler, a urology specialist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, pointed out that because people who have a problem may be more likely to answer a survey about it, that may mean the study overestimates the number of young women with incontinence.

On the other hand, Rabin noted, the women in the study were mostly normal weight, healthy and active, which may make the incontinence rate a conservative estimate.

There are two types of incontinence -- stress and urge incontinence, which have different causes, experts explained. In the study, about 6 percent of women reported stress incontinence, 4.5 percent reported urge incontinence, and about 2 percent reported both.

Stress incontinence is often caused by a weakening of the pelvic floor muscles that hold the bladder in place. Pregnancy and vaginal deliveries can weaken or damage pelvic floor muscles. But other factors, such as obesity or being overweight, are also associated with stress incontinence, although this study did not find an association between weight and incontinence.

Urge incontinence, or feeling the urge to go but not making it to the bathroom, usually has a neurological cause, in that the brain doesn't have sufficient control over the bladder. Neurological conditions such as multiple sclerosis, dementia or simply advancing age can contribute to urge incontinence, Kavaler noted.

It's well known that some younger women can experience what is essentially premature aging of that bladder control, and can experience urge incontinence earlier in life.

To alleviate stress incontinence, Kegel exercises, which strengthen the pelvic floor muscles, may help. Women should squeeze their pelvic muscles as if they are stopping the flow of urine for five seconds, then release for five seconds. Repeat that about five times, Rabin advised. Take a break, and then increase your Kegel set up to 10 times in a day.

"Over time, it thickens the muscle that supports the bladder, vagina and rectum and stabilizes it," Rabin said.

If Kegel exercises aren't helping, see your doctor. "There are young women who have urinary control issues, there are treatments, and they should seek help and talk to their doctor about it," Kavaler said.

Rabin pointed out that some women will resort to restricting fluid intake to alleviate incontinence, but that's a bad idea, she said. Dehydration can contribute to urinary tract infections and constipation, which can also stress the pelvic floor muscles during bowel movements.

The study did not receive university or outside funding.

More information

The U.S. National Kidney and Urologic Diseases Information Clearinghouse has more on urinary incontinence.

View the Original article

Health Tip: Poor Air Quality Affects Kids With Asthma

HealthDay – 1 hr 2 mins ago (HealthDay News) -- When the weather heats up and ozone infiltrates the air, kids with asthma should limit their time outside, experts say.

The Nemours Foundation offers these suggestions for the parents of asthmatic children when the air quality is poor:

Run the air conditioner, and don't let your child spend too much time outside.If your kids participate in outdoor activities, limit them to the early morning hours and away from high-traffic areas.Talk to your child's sports coach about practicing in an indoor, air conditioned environment on very hot days. Send your child to practice with a rescue inhaler, just in case.Ensure that your home is well-ventilated, use an air purifier and avoid wood-burning fires inside the home.Discuss your child's asthma action plan with the pediatrician.

View the Original article

Poor Sleep Affects Immune System Much Like Physical Stress

HealthDay – 7 mins ago MONDAY, July 2 (HealthDay News) -- Severe sleep deprivation has the same effect on the immune system as physical stress, according to a new study.

Researchers in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom found sleep loss triggers the production of white blood cells, known as granulocytes, particularly at night.

"The granulocytes reacted immediately to the physical stress of sleep loss and directly mirrored the body's stress response," explained the study's lead author, Katrin Ackermann, a postdoctoral researcher at the Eramus MC University Medical Center Rotterdam in the Netherlands, in a news release from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.

In conducting the study, the researchers tracked the white blood cell count of 15 healthy young men who followed a strict schedule of eight hours of sleep every day for a week, then compared that with their white blood cell counts during 29 hours of sleep deprivation.

The investigators found that the white blood cells showed a loss of day-night rhythmicity and also increased during the sleep deprivation.

The research was published in the July issue of the journal Sleep.

Previous studies have shown sleep deprivation is linked to the development of diseases, including obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure. Prior research has also suggested that chronic sleep loss is a risk factor for impairment of the immune system.

Looking ahead, the study authors concluded that future research should examine exactly how sleep loss contributes to the development of certain diseases.

"Future research will reveal the molecular mechanisms behind this immediate stress response and elucidate its role in the development of diseases associated with chronic sleep loss," said Ackermann in the news release. "If confirmed with more data, this will have implications for clinical practice and for professions associated with long-term sleep loss, such as rotating shift work."

More information

The American Psychological Association has more about the importance of sleep.

View the Original article