TY - JOUR

T1 - Genetic and environmental influences on urinary incontinence

T2 - a Danish population-based twin study of middle-aged and elderly women

AU - Rohr, Gitte

AU - Kragstrup, Jakob

AU - Gaist, David

AU - Christensen, Kaare

PY - 2004/10

Y1 - 2004/10

N2 - BACKGROUND: Familial clustering has been reported for urinary incontinence (stress and urge), but different etiologies for the two types of incontinence have been suggested.OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to estimate the relative influence of genetic and environmental factors on stress, urge, and mixed incontinence among elderly and middle-aged women.METHODS: This is a population-based classical twin study of 1168 female twin pairs [548 monozygotic (MZ) and 620 dizygotic (DZ)] from a middle-aged (46-68 years) and an old (70-94 years) cohort identified in the Danish Twin Registry. Urinary incontinence was assessed with the help of two validated questions identifying stress and urge incontinence in interviews.RESULTS: For urge incontinence, the tetrachoric correlation was significantly higher for MZ twins, compared to that for DZ twin pairs in both middle-aged [0.51 (95% CI: 0.26-0.71) versus -0.22 (95% CI: -0.59-0.18)] and elderly [0.50 (95% CI: 0.27-0.68) versus 0.28 (95% CI: 0.02-0.42)], indicating genetic effects. The heritability of urge incontinence was 42% (95% CI: 16-63%) among middle-aged women and 49% (95% CI: 29-65%) among the elderly. Moreover, mixed incontinence had a substantial genetic component. The role of genetic factors was less clear in stress incontinence.CONCLUSIONS: Genetic factors play a substantial role in the development of urge and mixed incontinence, whereas the role of genetic factors in stress incontinence is less prominent.

AB - BACKGROUND: Familial clustering has been reported for urinary incontinence (stress and urge), but different etiologies for the two types of incontinence have been suggested.OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to estimate the relative influence of genetic and environmental factors on stress, urge, and mixed incontinence among elderly and middle-aged women.METHODS: This is a population-based classical twin study of 1168 female twin pairs [548 monozygotic (MZ) and 620 dizygotic (DZ)] from a middle-aged (46-68 years) and an old (70-94 years) cohort identified in the Danish Twin Registry. Urinary incontinence was assessed with the help of two validated questions identifying stress and urge incontinence in interviews.RESULTS: For urge incontinence, the tetrachoric correlation was significantly higher for MZ twins, compared to that for DZ twin pairs in both middle-aged [0.51 (95% CI: 0.26-0.71) versus -0.22 (95% CI: -0.59-0.18)] and elderly [0.50 (95% CI: 0.27-0.68) versus 0.28 (95% CI: 0.02-0.42)], indicating genetic effects. The heritability of urge incontinence was 42% (95% CI: 16-63%) among middle-aged women and 49% (95% CI: 29-65%) among the elderly. Moreover, mixed incontinence had a substantial genetic component. The role of genetic factors was less clear in stress incontinence.CONCLUSIONS: Genetic factors play a substantial role in the development of urge and mixed incontinence, whereas the role of genetic factors in stress incontinence is less prominent.

KW - Aged

KW - Aged, 80 and over

KW - Denmark/epidemiology

KW - Female

KW - Genetic Predisposition to Disease

KW - Humans

KW - Middle Aged

KW - Registries

KW - Twins

KW - Urinary Incontinence, Stress/epidemiology

KW - Whites/genetics

U2 - 10.1111/j.0001-6349.2004.00635.x

DO - 10.1111/j.0001-6349.2004.00635.x

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 15453898

VL - 83

SP - 978

EP - 982

JO - Acta Obstetricia et Gynecologica Scandinavica

JF - Acta Obstetricia et Gynecologica Scandinavica

SN - 0001-6349

IS - 10

ER -