Obese women were twice as likely as those at normal weight to leak urine, Australian researchers say.

The effect was smaller among women who were overweight but not obese. These women were 35 percent more likely to be incontinent compared to normal-weight women, Reuters reports.

The average age of women was under 55 years old.

The article was published in Obesity Reviews.

Negative health outcomes
 

Negative health outcomes associated with urinary incontinence include physical discomfort, odor and embarrassment.

While urine leakage may not severely impact health, “it can have significant impact on women’s well-being,” concluded the research team, led by Tayla Lamerton of the School of Movement and Nutrition Sciences at the University of Queensland.

Overactive bladder is thought to be caused more by metabolic changes (that come with being overweight or obese). But nobody understands what causes it exactly”, explained шд Иекшеия Dr. Stephanie Kielb, an associate professor of urology, medical education and gynecology at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago.
 

The study
 

14 studies were selected that contained data on 47,293 women from eight countries: Australia, France, the US, Denmark, England, Scotland, Wales and the Netherlands.

The researchers checked to see if there was any difference in the effects of weight on two different types: urge incontinence and stress incontinence. There wasn’t.

The new research showed that excess pounds can affect the risk of incontinence in all women, said Dr. Jeanne Clark, a professor of medicine and director of the division of general and internal medicine at Johns Hopkins Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland.

Women who develop incontinence after putting on excess pounds will often see improvements if they lose weight, Clark said.