The relationship between environmental and genetic risk factors in women with urinary incontinence

Sofia Maria Tarchi; Iwona Gabriel; Rachan Ghandour; Limin Hao; Vatche A Minassian

doi:10.1097/GCO.0000000000001131

The relationship between environmental and genetic risk factors in women with urinary incontinence

Curr Opin Obstet Gynecol. 2026 Jul 15. doi: 10.1097/GCO.0000000000001131. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Sofia Maria Tarchi¹, Iwona Gabriel^{1

2}, Rachan Ghandour³, Limin Hao⁴, Vatche A Minassian¹

Affiliations

¹ Division of Urogynecology, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
² Department of Gynecology, Obstetrics, and Gynecological Oncology, Medical University of Silesia, Bytom, Poland.
³ Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Detroit Medical Center, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan and.
⁴ Laboratory for Molecular Medicine, Department of Personalized Medicine, Mass General Brigham, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.

PMID: 42456120
DOI: 10.1097/GCO.0000000000001131

Abstract

Purpose of review: To compare environmental risk factors between women with and without genetic susceptibility to urinary incontinence.

Recent findings: We conducted a case-control study on women older than 18, diagnosed with stress urinary incontinence (SUI) or mixed urinary incontinence (MUI), between May 2008 and 2023. Cases were identified as being carriers of previously identified urinary incontinence-associated genetic variants. Environmental data, including age, BMI, parity, and diabetes status, were extracted from the patients' electronic health records, and genomic data were obtained from our institution's Biobank. The cohort included 2653 women (1055 with SUI and 1598 with MUI). Younger age was significantly associated with genome-wide association study positivity in the overall cohort (P = 0.0015) and in the MUI subgroup (P = 0.0149). Among women with MUI, diabetes was independently associated with genetic susceptibility (odds ratio = 2.41, 95% confidence interval = 1.06-5.10, P = 0.027).

Summary: Women with MUI and genetic susceptibility to urinary incontinence become symptomatic at a younger age and are more likely to have concomitant diabetes than those without identifiable genetic susceptibility. These findings suggest that genetic predisposition may modify the clinical presentation of urinary incontinence and interact with metabolic risk factors.

Keywords: gene-environment interaction; genome-wide association study; urinary incontinence.