Prevalence of diastasis recti abdominis in postmenopausal women with stress urinary incontinence: An observational study

Purpose: To determine the prevalence of diastasis recti abdominis (DRA) in postmenopausal women with stress urinary incontinence (SUI).Methods: 385 postmenopausal women complaining of SUI joined the study from Maghagha General Hospital/ El-Minia, Egypt. Their age ranged from 45- 60 years and body mass index (BMI) ranged from 25- 35 kg/m2. Only women with proven SUI, confirmed by cough stress test, were included in the study. Demographic data for each woman, including BMI, waist/hip ratio (WHR) and year of last period were recorded. The magnitude and frequency of the urine loss were recorded thru a set of questions. The measurements of inter-rectus distance were done by finger width test and abdominal ultrasonography.Results: Only 200 postmenopausal women were included out of 385 women, prevalence of DRA among postmenopausal women with SUI was 79.5% with 95% CI of 73.37- 84.51%. There was a significant increase (p = 0.006) in the prevalence of DRA in obese compared to overweight patients, and in patients with a WHR of 0.97-1.3, compared to patients with a WHR of 0.82-0.96 (p = 0.02)*. There was no significant association (p = 0.56) between DRA and the years since last menstrual cycle. Regarding SUI parameters, there was a statistically significant association (P<0.05) of DRA with both the amount of urine loss (p = 0.001)* and the times of involuntary loss of urine (p = 0.001)*.Conclusion: DRA appears to be prevalent in Egyptian postmenopausal women with SUI. Also, DRA prevalence could be affected by the patient's BMI and WHR.