Association of eating behaviour with symptoms of pelvic floor disorders
in middle-aged women: An observational study
Abstract
Objective To investigate associations of eating behaviour with
symptoms of pelvic floor disorders (PFD), i.e., stress urinary
incontinence (SUI), urge urinary incontinence (UUI), faecal incontinence
(FI), constipation or defecation difficulties (CDD), and feeling of
pelvic organ prolapse (POP) among middle-aged women. Design A
cross-sectional, observational study. Setting University
Research Laboratory. Sample A population sample of 1 098
Finnish women aged 47 to 55 years. Methods Eating behaviour,
demographical, gynaecological, and physical activity variables were
assessed using self-report questionnaires. Simple and multiple logistic
regression models were used to assess the associations of eating
behaviour and symptoms of PFD. Models were adjusted with demographical,
gynaecological, and physical activity variables. Main outcome
measures Prevalence of symptoms of CDD, FI, POP, SUI, UUI.
Results After controlling for confounding, middle-aged women
with restrictive eating style were more likely to experience the
symptoms of CDD (OR 1.73, CI 1.03–2.90, p=0.039). Women with
evening-oriented eating pattern were more likely to experience symptoms
of UUI (OR 2.01, CI 1.32–3.07, p=0.001) while maintaining healthy
eating patterns was associated with lower risk of UUI (OR 0.45, CI
0.24–0.85, p=0.014) in adjusted models. Conclusions This study
provides proof-of-concept evidence to the hypothesis that eating
behaviour is associated with perceived pelvic floor disorders,
particularly CDD and UUI, warranting further studies to investigate
causality.