Objectives: The aim of this study was to explore the effectiveness of bariatric surgery in obese women with urinary incontinence (UI) through meta-analysis.
Methods: Searches of PubMed, the Cochrane Library, and EMBASE databases were performed using "weight loss surgery/bariatric surgery/gastric bypass surgery" and "incontinentia urinae/uracratia/urinary incontinence/uroclepsia" in the title/abstract before January 2018. Then, meta-analysis was analyzed by Review Manager 5.3 (Cochrane Collaboration, Oxford, United Kingdom). The standardized mean difference (SMD) and odds ratio (OR) were used to describe results of continuous variables and dichotomous variables, respectively.
Results: Pooled data showed that bariatric surgery reduced the incidence of UI in obese women at the follow-up of 6 months (OR, 3.27; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.55-4.21; P < 0.00001) and 12 months (OR, 4.04; 95% CI, 2.62-6.22; P < 0.00001) and significantly reduced the body mass index at 6 months (SMD, 1.86; 95% CI, 1.19-2.53; P < 0.00001) and 12 months (SMD, 2.04; 95% CI, 1.44-2.64; P < 0.00001). In addition, bariatric surgery could also significantly increase the quality of life (SMD, 0.53; 95% CI, 0.27-0.80; P < 0.00001) and improve the function of pelvic floor disorders (SMD, 0.55; 95% CI, 0.38-0.72; P < 0.00001) based on quality-of-life questionnaires and Pelvic Floor Distress Inventory 20, respectively.
Conclusions: This meta-analysis demonstrated that bariatric surgery is an effective choice for obese women with UI. However, more randomized controlled trials are required to confirm this result.