Urinary continence in women during centrifuge exposure to high +Gz.
BACKGROUND
One earlier study and anecdotal evidence suggest a possible association between exposure to high +Gz forces and urinary incontinence in women. High +Gz could possibly contributes to the prolapse of the bladder neck, moving it into a position which decreases the leak point pressure resulting in urinary incontinence.


OBJECTIVE
We tested the hypothesis that increased urinary incontinence is associated with high +Gz.


METHODS
25 females were exposed to a high +Gz profile. Following the exposure they were asked to answer a questionnaire grading their urinary continence under high +Gz, and to provide a baseline grading of their urinary continence at +1.0 Gz and under increased abdominal stress at +1.0 Gz. Demographic data included parity and previous urogenital surgery. Graded responses were dichotomized and data was analyzed using Fischer's Exact Test for 2x2 tables with significance set at alpha = 0.05.


RESULTS
At high +Gz no significant association was found between reported urine incontinence and a history of urogenital surgery or parity. Only one of twenty-five subjects had any symptoms at high +Gz despite the fact that five had a predisposition. As expected, at +1.0 Gz and under increased abdominal stress at +1.0 Gz a significant association was found between reported urine incontinence and a history of urogenital surgery, while no significant association was found for parity.


CONCLUSIONS
In this simple first look there was no increase in urinary incontinence at high +Gz even among those who reported a predisposition.
Benjamin
C R
CR
The 99th Medical Group, Nellis AFB, NV, USA.
Hearon
C M
CM
D000337:Aerospace Medicine; D015984:Causality; D002498:Centrifugation / Q000009:adverse effects*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D018471:Hypergravity / Q000009:adverse effects*; D008889:Military Personnel; D010298:Parity; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D012727:Sex Characteristics; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States; D014549:Urinary Incontinence / Q000145:classification / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D014563:Urodynamics; D014566:Urogenital System / Q000601:surgery