Physical Activity, BMI, and Risk of Fecal Incontinence in the Nurses' Health Study

Overview

Journal Clin Transl Gastroenterol

Specialty Gastroenterology

Date 2018 Oct 26

PMID 30356052

Citations 8

Authors

Kyle Staller

Mingyang Song

Francine Grodstein

Catherine A Matthews

William E Whitehead

Braden Kuo

Andrew T Chan

Mary K Townsend

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Background: Higher body mass index (BMI) and low physical activity have been associated with increased prevalence of fecal incontinence (FI) in cross-sectional studies, but prospective studies examining the role of these factors are lacking. We sought to determine whether BMI and/or physical activity are associated with risk of FI among older women.

Methods: We prospectively examined the association between BMI and physical activity and risk of FI in the Nurses' Health Study among 51,708 women who were free of FI in 2008. We defined FI as at ≥1 liquid or solid FI episode/month during the past year reported in 2010 or 2012. We used Cox proportional hazards models to calculate multivariable-adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for FI according to physical activity and BMI, adjusting for potential confounding factors.

Results: During more than 175,000 person-years of follow-up, we documented 5954 cases of incident FI. Compared with women in the lowest activity category (<3 metabolic equivalent of task (MET)-hrs/week), multivariable-adjusted HRs for FI were 0.86 (95% CI 0.80-0.93) for women doing 3-8 MET-hrs/week, 0.78 (95% CI 0.72-0.84) for 9-17 MET-hrs/week, 0.76 (95% CI 0.69-0.83) for 18-26 MET-hrs/week, and 0.75 (95% CI 0.70-0.81) for 27 + MET-hrs/week (P = <0.0001). There was no association between BMI and risk of FI.

Conclusions: Higher levels of physical activity were associated with a modest reduction (25%) in risk of incident FI among older women. These results support a potential role of ongoing physical activity in the neuromuscular health of the anorectal continence mechanism with aging.

Translational Impact: These results support a potential role of ongoing physical activity in the neuromuscular health of the anorectal continence mechanism with aging.

Citing Articles

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Burholt V, Pillai A, Cheung G, Awatere S, Daltrey J Gerontology. 2024; 70(9):930-939.

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Centrally Distributed Adiposity as a Modifiable Risk Factor for Fecal Incontinence: United States Population-based Analysis.

Hiramoto B, Flanagan R, Muftah M, Shah E, Chan W Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2024; 22(9):1908-1916.e1.

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Do urinary and double incontinence predict changes in living arrangements and mobility in older women after hip fracture? - a 1-year prospective cohort study.

Hellman-Bronstein A, Luukkaala T, Ala-Nissila S, Nuotio M BMC Geriatr. 2024; 24(1):100.

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Global Prevalence of Fecal Incontinence in Community-Dwelling Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.

Mack I, Hahn H, Godel C, Enck P, Bharucha A Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2023; 22(4):712-731.e8.

PMID: 37734583 PMC: 10948379. DOI: 10.1016/j.cgh.2023.09.004.

Improving continence management for people with dementia in the community in Aotearoa, New Zealand: Protocol for a mixed methods study.

Burholt V, Peri K, Awatere S, Balmer D, Cheung G, Daltrey J PLoS One. 2023; 18(7):e0288613.

PMID: 37463158 PMC: 10353819. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0288613.

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