Association Between Added Sugar Intake and Urinary Incontinence in Females: A Cross-sectional Population-based Study

Urinary incontinence (UI) is a widespread issue in women that severely impacts quality of life. The addition of sugar is associated with multiple adverse effects on health. This study examined the potential association between added sugar intake and UI.

Adult females from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey database (2005-2018) were included in this study. The primary outcomes were the prevalence of stress urinary incontinence (SUI), urge urinary incontinence (UUI), and mixed urinary incontinence (MUI). Weighted logistic regression, stratified logistic regression, restricted cubic spline regression, and sensitivity analyses were utilized to determine whether added sugar was associated with UI after multivariate adjustment.

A total of 14,927 participants met the inclusion criteria. The results revealed a heightened prevalence of SUI, UUI, and MUI in the fourth quartile of added sugar energy percentage (OR = 1.304, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.105-1.539; OR = 1.464, 95% CI = 1.248-1.717; OR = 1.657, 95% CI = 1.329-2.065 respectively). The effect was more pronounced in young women and the subgroup analyses did not reveal any noteworthy interaction effects. According to the sensitivity analyses, the results for SUI and the MUI were consistent with those of the primary analyses.

The excessive intake of added sugar among women may increase their risk of SUI and MUI. Our study highlights the negative effects of added sugar on female genitourinary health and highlights the need for universal access to healthy diets.