BACKGROUND: Urinary incontinence (UI) affects nearly 50% of middle-aged women, with microvascular damage in diabetes being a likely cause. Higher BMI levels increase diabetes prevalence, which may show highest association with obesity. NEED OF RESEARCH: BMI can be linked to both UI prevalence and severity due to increased bladder pressure and muscle strain. A strong association may exist between BMI and core muscle endurance as deposition of fat is comely found around the abdomen due to sedentary lifestyle. AIMS AND OBJECTIVE: This study aims to examine correlation of BMI (Body Mass Index) with core muscle endurance, urge incontinence, severity and quality of life in the middle-aged diabetic women. METHOD: A correlation study was conducted with 39 diabetic women of middle aged 40 to 60 were included. the participants across various BMI categories completed Patient Perception of Intensity of Urgency Scale, International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire-Urinary Incontinence Short Form, Incontinence Impact Questionnaire 7 to assess urge incontinence, severity, quality of life respectively. Core muscle endurance was assessed using Prone Plank Test. RESULTS: Data of study shows non-normal distribution hence Spearman rho test was used. Result shows strong correlation between BMI with urge incontinence (r=0.721, p<0.05) and severity (r=0.707, p<0.05) and moderate correlation between BMI with quality of life (r=0.624, p<0.05) and core muscle endurance (r=-0.603, p<0.05). CONCLUSION: As BMI increases; core muscle endurance decreases, urge incontinence and severity increases and decrease in quality of life in diabetic population was observed. Key words: Correlation, BMI, Urge incontinence, core muscle endurance, quality of life, diabetic women.
Gopani et al. (Sat,) studied this question.