NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Both heavy smoking and regularly sipping tea might help promote bladder-control problems in women, researchers reported Thursday.

Their study of nearly 28,000 Norwegian women found that those who smoked more than 20 cigarettes a day had a higher likelihood of urinary incontinence. For their part, tea drinkers showed a "slightly higher" risk of the condition, according to the report in the March issue of the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology. Although more research is needed, women with incontinence might do well to quit smoking and cut their tea intake, the study's lead author, Dr. Yngvild S. Hannestad, told Reuters Health. Urinary incontinence is a common problem that affects women about twice as often as men, owing to pregnancy and childbirth, menopause and the structure of the female urinary tract. There are several forms of the condition, including stress incontinence, which is the most common type seen in women. In this form, a person leaks urine while exercising, coughing, lifting objects or performing other movements that put pressure on the bladder. In the new study, Hannestad and colleagues at the University of Bergen examined which lifestyle factors might affect a woman's risk of incontinence. According to the researchers, such "modifiable" factors have not been studied to the extent that age, pregnancy and childbirth have. They surveyed women age 20 and older on bladder-control problems, exercise, smoking, height and weight, and intake of alcohol, coffee and tea. Nearly 7,000 reported urinary incontinence. Women who said they currently or formerly smoked at least 20 cigarettes a day had a higher risk of any form of urinary incontinence. And they were more than twice as likely as non-smokers to report "severe" incontinence. Women who drank one or more cups of tea a day also showed a modestly increased risk of any type of urinary incontinence, particularly stress and "mixed type" incontinence. No such association was seen for coffee or alcohol intake. According to Hannestad, the smoker's cough has been blamed for the higher prevalence of bladder-control problems among smokers that other studies have found. In his study, coughing and wheezing appeared to account for some, but not all, of the relationship between heavy smoking and urinary incontinence. Other possibilities, Hannestad said, include smoking's anti-estrogen effects or its interference with the body's production of collagen, which might alter the strength of the pelvic floor. As for why tea, but not coffee, was related to incontinence, the reason is unclear. Coffee has more caffeine, but, Hannestad's team speculates, "tea might contain components other than caffeine that might aggravate incontinence." "Many people," Hannestad said, "experience a diuretic effect of tea, more than of coffee." In other findings, higher body mass index (BMI) was tied to a greater risk of incontinence--a relationship that is considered "well established," according to the authors. Overweight women with incontinence might improve their symptoms by losing excess pounds, Hannestad said--adding that this, like quitting smoking, also has other health benefits.

<< Prev	CIGoutlet.NET News Home	Next >>