Sleep quality and urinary incontinence in elderly female exercise practitioners

Older women with urinary incontinence (UI) commonly report sleep problems. However, little is known about sleep problems in older women with UI who exercise. We aimed to evaluate the relationship of sleep quality with the presence or absence of UI, urine loss, and nocturia episodes in elderly female practitioners of physical exercise.

We conducted a cross-sectional study on older women participating in an extension program, southern Brazil. Data were collected in 2018. Sociodemographic and health characteristics were collected by interview. The International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire - short form was applied to evaluate the presence of UI, as well as the frequency and amount of urine loss. The International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire Overactive Bladder was used to analyze nocturia episodes. Sleep quality was assessed using the Pittsburgh sleep quality index.

The study group included 142 older women with a mean age of 68.8±6.8 years. The prevalence of UI was 33.8% (95% CI: 0.26-0.42). Women with UI had higher use of medication, daytime dysfunction, and total sleep quality scores than women without UI (p<0.05). Older women who leak urine several times a day exhibited worse sleep quality than those who lose urine once a week or less (p=0.036). Women with three or more episodes of nocturia also showed worse sleep quality than those without any episode (p=0.029). Conclusion: Exercising older women with UI have worse sleep quality than those without this dysfunction. Furthermore, participants who lose large amounts of urine and have more episodes of nocturia also exhibit worse sleep quality.