Depression and urinary incontinence go hand in hand

Mar 28 2006

Canadian researchers say that women who suffer from urinary incontinence are at nearly twice the risk of depression compared to women without the embarrassing disorder.

They say this is more so in younger women with incontinence.

Researchers Dr. Simone N. Vigod, and Dr. Donna E. Stewart from Toronto General Hospital, analyzed Canadian Community Health Survey data on over 69,000 non-pregnant women aged 18 and older.

The authors examined the relationship between urinary incontinence and major depression through data taken from the survey.

The rate of depression in women with incontinence was 15.5 percent, compared with 9.2 percent for women without incontinence, while the rate of depression was 30 percent for women ages 18 to 44 with incontinence.

It seems these conditions frequently occur together in Canadian women, and the combined impact of urinary incontinence and major depression exceeds the impact of either condition on it's own.

They say doctors need to be aware of this fact as the combination was associated with a variety of negative outcomes, including stress, lost days from work, and increased visits to doctors.

Lead author Dr. Donna E. Stewart, chair of Women's Health at the University of Toronto, points out that the study did not evaluate the severity of incontinence among the women.

She believes that incontinence may be underreported by the women in the survey because they were asked about it only in the context of chronic conditions that had been diagnosed by a doctor.

Many women when seeking medical advice about incontinence often refer to it as dribbling, leaking, or lack of bladder control.

Stewart said a further study of incontinence and depression in women who may not have a doctor's diagnosis of incontinence, is currently under way.

The findings appear in the March-April issue of the journal Psychosomatics.