Fluid intake and risk of stress, urgency, and mixed urinary incontinence

We investigated the relation between total fluid intake and incident urinary incontinence in the Nurses' Health Study cohorts.

We measured daily fluid intake using food frequency questionnaires among 65,167 women, who were 37-79 years old, without urinary incontinence at study baseline (2000-2001). Women reported incontinence incidence on questionnaires during 4 years of follow-up evaluation. Multivariable-adjusted hazard ratios and 95% confidence intervals were calculated with Cox proportional hazards models.

We found no association between total fluid intake and risk of incident incontinence (hazard ratio, 1.04; 95% confidence interval, 0.98-1.10; comparing top vs bottom quintile of fluid intake). In analyses of incontinence type, total fluid intake was not associated with risks of incident stress, urgency, or mixed incontinence.

No significant risk of incident urinary incontinence was found with higher fluid intake in women. These findings suggest that women should not restrict their fluid intake to prevent incontinence development.