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| All About Incontinence |
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RISK FACTORS |
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With so many possible causes, it's not surprising that incontinence
is common. These factors increase your risk of developing
this common condition:
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Sex.
Women are twice as likely as men are to have incontinence.
Pregnancy and childbirth, menopause, and the structure
of the female anatomy account for this difference.
However, men with prostate gland problems are at
increased risk of incontinence. |
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Age.
As you get older, the muscles in your bladder and
urethra lose some of their strength. Changes with
age reduce how much your bladder can hold. However,
that doesn't mean that you'll have incontinence
just because you're getting older. Incontinence
isn't normal at any age — except during infancy. |
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Obesity.
Being overweight puts constant and higher pressure
on your bladder and surrounding muscles, weakening
them and allowing urine to leak out when you cough
or sneeze. So obesity is a risk factor for incontinence,
especially for women. |
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Smoking.
A chronic cough can cause episodes of incontinence
or aggravate incontinence with other causes. Constant
coughing puts stress on your urinary sphincter.
Longtime smokers often experience stress incontinence
for this reason. |
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Participating
in high-impact sports. High-impact sports —
such as running, basketball and gymnastics — can cause episodes of incontinence in otherwise
healthy women. These vigorous activities put sudden,
strong pressure on your bladder, allowing urine
to leak past your urinary sphincter. However, no
data links high-impact sports to an increased risk
of chronic stress incontinence. |
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Other
diseases or medications. Having kidney disease or
diabetes or using certain medications may increase
your risk of urinary incontinence. |
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