Urinary incontinence shown to be prevalent in younger women too

Bladder control problems also known as ‘urinary incontinence’, has long been assumed to primarily affect those women who have recently given birth and those in old age. Besides the fact the problem can also affect males too (with many opting for Tena for men to combat the issue), an Australian study to emerge this week had indicated that urinary incontinence is prevalent amongst those women who have never given birth.

Over 1,000 women between the ages of 16 to 30 were investigated for the study and all subjects had not previously been pregnant. Almost an eighth of the women (equivalent to nearly 13%) complained that they suffered with bladder problems.

Senior researcher Susan R. David, of Monash University in Melbourne, explained the reasoning for undertaking the new study and said, “The traditional belief has been that incontinence really occurs as a consequence of pregnancy and aging. What prompted us to undertake this study was the fact that nobody had actually looked at incontinence in younger women who had never been pregnant.”

Mary K. Townsend, an epidemiologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, was not involved in this particular study but has done previous extensive inquiries into incontinence and its causes. She spoke out regarding the new study and said, “The study contributes significantly to current knowledge about urinary incontinence in young women. Overall, a key message from this study is that urinary incontinence is a significant problem for women of all ages.”
The women involved in the study were from either college campuses or health clinics in Australia. This has resulted in the study authors warning for some degree of caution in interpreting the results and that they may not be completely accurate representative of all women.  Also, only 63% of women who picked up surveys across the campuses or health clinics actually took the time to return them, meaning the results could be an overestimation as those with the problem may be more likely to answer the questions.

The study interestingly discovered that a connection could be present between urinary incontinence and sexually active women who are not using any kind of birth control. This particular group were shown to have the highest risk, with 22% stating they had experience problems in the previous month. This compares to just 10% of the women having urinary problems who had either never have never had sex or were on the pill and sexually active.

Incontinence is not the only urination issue that is common though. On the other end of the scale, other problems can even include the inability to pass urine easily, with some people experiencing a ‘stop and start’ motion in their passing of urine. Or, many people find they have to get up several times in the middle of the night to go to the toilet, sometimes never quite feeling fully emptied.

If you are a male suffering with any of the aforementioned symptoms, there is a chance you could be one of the 2.4 million men in the UK suffering from a condition called benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). Also known as an enlarged prostate gland, it can be treated through the use of effective medication such as Flomax Relief, which eases the symptoms associated with lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) of a BPH. Flomax works by relaxing muscles in the prostate gland, relaxing the muscles in the urethra (the tube from the bladder to the outside of the body).  This lets urine pass more freely through the urethra, making it easier to urinate. It is available today from the Medical Specialists Pharmacy chemist shop, costing just £8.75 for 14 capsules, or £15.95 for 28.