Both urinary incontinence (UI) and fibromyalgia symptoms affect the physical function of women and lead to negative effects on the quality of life and emotional status. Our aim is to identify the prevalence of symptoms of fibromyalgia (FM) in women with UI and the relationships of FM with subtypes of UI.
UI was diagnosed based on clinical histories, gynecologic examinations and urodynamic investigation results. FM was diagnosed according to the 2010 American Community of Rheumatology criteria. The Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire (FIQ), a visual analog scale (VAS) evaluation measure, and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) were used to evaluate physical functions related to health status and to assess pain, sleep quality and the level of depression in the subjects, respectively. To assess the quality of life of women with UI, we used the urogenital distress inventory short-form (UDI-6) and the incontinence impact questionnaire short-form (IIQ-7).
The patient population (n = 94) was composed of consecutive women with stress incontinence (n = 20), urge incontinence (n = 19), and mixed incontinence (n = 21) and a healthy control group without UI (n = 34). Body mass index (BMI), parity, FM frequency, FM tender points, FM symptoms other than fatigue and sicca symptoms, were significantly more frequently found and also scores of VAS, FIQ and BDI, were significantly higher in the women with UI than the control group (p < 0.05).
According to the results of our study, symptoms of FM are more prevalent in women with UI, but not related with subtypes of IU. We suggested that IU may trigger FM symptoms due to causing depression and anxiety by disturbing the quality of life in women. But further studies with larger sample sizes will be necessary to confirm these findings.