Female Urinary Problems Improve After Gastric Banding

MONDAY, Jan. 17 (HealthDay News) -- Women who lose weight after laparoscopic gastric band (LGB) surgery have significant improvements in symptoms of urinary incontinence (UI), particularly stress incontinence, but urge incontinence worsens, according to research published in the January issue of BJU International.

Weranja K.B. Ranasinghe, M.B.B.S., of Austin Hospital in Melbourne, Australia, and colleagues conducted a retrospective survey of 142 women and 34 men who had undergone LGB surgery between January 2001 and 2009, using the International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire Short Form and International Prostate Symptom Score questionnaires to analyze urinary function. Men also received the International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF) questionnaire.

The researchers found that 65 percent of women and 24 percent of men had UI before LGB surgery, and 83.3 percent of men had erectile dysfuncion prior to surgery. Female UI and stress incontinence improved after LGB surgery, but when adjusted for weight loss, urge incontinence worsened. In men, UI was unimproved with postoperative weight loss. The IIEF score improved postoperatively, but erectile index and orgasmic function showed a trend toward worsening over time.

"More prospective studies involving urodynamic evaluation are needed to investigate the effects of bariatric surgery on urinary and sexual function in males and females in depth," the authors write.

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