Urinary incontinence is passed down from mother to daughter

Nov 4 2004

New research from the University of Bergen (UiB), Norway, shows that a woman who’s mother has urinary incontinence has a 30 percent greater chance for incontinence herself.

For the first time, a larger study of the relationship of inheritance and urinary incontinence has been conducted. The results, which are now being published in the British Medical Journal, show that genetic relationships play a role.

"Many illness have a generic component. So seen from that point of view, the results are not surprising. But it says something about the impact of inheritance in relation to other non-risk factors", says the main author of the study, Yngvild Skaatun Hannestad.

Hannestad is a doctor with the Women’s Clinic, Haukeland University Hospital and postdoctor with The Department of Public Health and Primary Health Care at the University of Bergen (UiB).

She has come to the conclusion that the occurrence of urinary incontinence is 30 percent higher within a group of women who have mothers with incontinence than the those who did not.

Further, the chance for problems are two to three time higher among those who have both mother and grandmother with urinary incontinence. Among those who had an older sister with incontinence, the occurrence was 60 percent higher than in the group of woman who’s older sister was not incontinent.

The results are based on analysing 6,000 mothers and their approximately 7,500 daughters. In addition, older and younger sisters are included in the questionnaire-based research.

One out of four women over the age of 20 say they have urinary incontinence for one reason or another. Half of the women have been incontinent when coughing, lifting, jumping and so on (stress incontinence). Eleven percent had problems in connection with a strong need to urinate, and 30 percent have suffered from both types.

Skaatun Hannestad, who is now a postdoctor student with the Section for General Practice, took her medical doctorate on the subject of urinary incontinence in women in November 2003. This new study is part of a greater Norwegian research project.

"It is a field that is being researched quite a bit, but is still perhaps not discussed enough. Although, openness has been growing. Today there are many good treatments available,” says Skaatun Hannestad.