The Relationship between Overweight and Overactive Bladder Symptoms

Several authors have investigated the relationship between obesity - assessed only by body mass index (BMI) - and overactive bladder (OAB) symptoms.

The objective of this study was to determine the relationship between body fat percentage (BFP) and the severity of OAB symptoms with an impact on quality of life.

Cross-sectional study. The sample consisted of 206 overweight women; they were university students (BMI = 25.8 ± 3.0) with an average age of 30.6 ± 2.4 years. Body composition analysis was used, including assessment of BFP, visceral fat area (cm2/level), and other parameters. OAB symptoms were evaluated with an OAB questionnaire (OAB-q), voiding diary, and quality of life scale (I-QoL).

Ninety women had a BFP >32% and 116 had a BFP <32%. The voiding diary and OAB-q confirmed significant differences in 24-h daytime and nighttime frequency of voiding and average urine volume during the day. The OAB-q symptom score was lower in the group with BFP <32%. I-QoL recorded significantly worse parameters in the group with BFP >32% (p < 0.01). The Patient Perception of Intensity of Urgency Scale significantly correlated with BFP (r = 0.466, p < 0.001). Women with a BFP above 32% had a 1.95 times greater chance of developing OAB (odds ratio = 1.95, 95% CI = 1.09-3.52, p < 0.02).

Young women with a BFP >32% were 95% more likely to have OAB than other young women with a BPF <32%.