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Women are more likely to develop urinary incontinence if their mother or older sisters are incontinent, according to a study reported in the October 16 issue of the British Medical Journal.
These findings add weight to the theory that a genetic predisposition may play a part in the development of this common and burdensome condition among women.
A team of Norwegian researchers examined the risk of urinary incontinence in the daughters, granddaughters and sisters of over 2,000 incontinent women in Norway compared to about 6,000 women with relatives who did not have this condition.
Daughters of mothers with urinary incontinence had a 1.3-fold risk of being incontinent and close to a two-fold risk of such symptoms if their mothers had severe symptoms of the condition.
Female siblings had a 1.6-fold increased risk of urinary incontinence if their older sisters were incontinent. The familial risk found in the study was present for both symptoms of stress and urge incontinence.
The researchers noted that known risk factors for incontinence such as increasing age, pregnancy and childbirth and high body mass index may further increase the chances that women with a genetic predisposition for incontinence will actually become incontinent.
Source:
Medical Week staff,
week of October 23,2004
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