Study sheds light on risk factors for urinary incontinence in females with chronic cough

China: In female patients with chronic cough, urinary incontinence (UI) is a common complication. Older age, chronic sinusitis, more severe cough, cough easily triggered by exercise and abdominal muscle pain due to cough are identified as risk factors for urinary incontinence. These are the results from a recent study published in BMC Pulmonary Medicine. 

The researchers suggest that more attention should be paid to female chronic coughers with these risk factors in clinics. "To reduce the incidence of urinary incontinence, it is necessary for female patients to strengthen their pelvic floor muscle function in daily life," the researchers wrote in their study. 

Previous studies have shown that female patients with chronic cough are more likely to suffer from urinary incontinence. However, not much data is available with regards of risks related with UI infemale patients with chronic cough. Considering this, Kefang Lai, The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangdong, People's Republic of China, and colleagues aimed to investigate the risk factors of UI in adult female patients with chronic cough through comparison of the patients' demographic and clinical characteristics with UI and those without UI.

For this purpose, the researchers recruited female adult patients with chronic cough from the cough specialist clinic. Clinical characteristics and demographic information including BMI, age, duration of cough, cough severity, cough triggers, nature and timing of cough, concomitant symptoms, comorbidities and UI condition were collected.