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21 March 2006
Incontinence Doubles Risk Of Depression 
Despite the availability of treatments to help control incontinence, many women continue to suffer in silence, preferring to avoid discussing the matter with their health practitioner. And a new study in the journal Psychosomatics indicates that this wall of silence could be setting women up for depression. The study found that incontinence is associated with nearly double the risk of depression for women with the problem, and in younger women, the risk can triple. The Canadian Community Health Survey conducted the study which contacted more than 69,000 women over the age of 18. Lead author of the study, Donna E. Stewart, explained that the results showed the prevalence of depression was 16 percent in women with urinary incontinence, compared with 9 percent in women without urinary incontinence. Worryingly, the prevalence of depression rose to 30 percent for women younger than 44. "The combination of incontinence and depression was found to be associated with many negative effects, including stress, increased visits to a physician and lost days from work," said Stewart. "The severity of incontinence was not evaluated and incontinence may also have been underreported because the women were only asked about it in the context of chronic conditions that were diagnosed by a physician." Jean Hay-Smith, of the University of Otago, in New Zealand, who has previously researched the effectiveness of Kegel exercises for treating incontinence, said that the study may have underestimated the number of women affected. "Just asking women if they have urinary incontinence may not be enough," Hay-Smith said. "Many people with the problem do not use the medical terms for it - it is more common for women to talk about dribbling, leaking or lack of bladder control." She believes that consequently, many women don't see their doctor about incontinence. Source: Psychosomatics
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