Taboo bladder weakness Every third woman is affected, many suffer mute

Still a taboo subject: every third woman suffers from bladder weakness

Every third woman is affected by bladder weakness during her life. Especially pregnancies and births are considered as major risk factors, because in 70% of the births it comes to consequential damage to the pelvic floor, which favor a future bladder weakness. At the International Urogynaecology Congress in Vienna from 27 to 30 June, emphasis will be placed on bladder incontinence and pelvic floor problems after birth and in the elderly.

"Every third woman suffers from a bladder weakness during her life and every fifth woman from a pelvic floor weakness," said Univ.-Prof. Dr. Heinz Kölbl, Head of Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at MedUni Vienna and Chairman of the Local Organizing Committee of the International Urogynecological Association of the International Urogynecological Associatoin (IUGA). "Although a lot has happened in the last few years, our main task remains the final taboo of these two urogynaecological problems. Because many women suffer from shame silently to themselves. It does not have to be that way, because in the meantime we can do a great deal in prevention and treatment to alleviate these conditions, "emphasizes Kölbl. More than 1,200 gynecologists at the Austria Center Vienna will be discussing bladder incontinence and pelvic floor problems after birth and in the elderly at the International Urogynaecology Congress from 27 to 30 June.

Urinary incontinence due to weakened pelvic floor muscles is more common in women after pregnancy. (Image: SENTELLO / fotolia.com)

Pregnancy and childbirth as the biggest risk factors

Women are generally more susceptible to bladder and pelvic floor weaknesses. This is due to the supporting and holding function of the female pelvic floor, which is much more stressed by pregnancies and births. About 25 percent of women between the ages of 25 and 35 suffer from, at least temporarily, bladder weakness as a result of childbirth. "It is therefore very important to prevent pelvic floor exercises during pregnancy, to be professionally accompanied during the birth, to prevent injury during the birth process, and then to put on recovery gymnastics," explains the physician. Women who have given birth to particularly large children, have an instrumental birth - such as a forceps delivery - or have had a particularly long expulsion phase during childbirth, are particularly vulnerable to bladder or pelvic floor weakness in later life , Statistically, after birth, only 30% of the female pelvic floor will completely regenerate within 3 months, and 70% of the women will sustain secondary damage.

Cesarean section is not a prophylaxis

"Some women therefore prefer to use a caesarean section for birth, but this is not a profilactic panacea for bladder and pelvic floor problems," warns Kölbl, "because even women who have not had children, such as nuns, can later in life at one Bladder or pelvic floor weakness suffer. "
Because bladder weakness can have other causes. Obesity patients, smokers and older women are at higher risk of bladder weakness. In old age, the hormone deficiency after menopause and the impaired blood circulation as well as general tissue and muscle weaknesses lead to bladder problems. It is estimated that as many as 40% of women over the age of 60 are likely to be bladderwashed.

Good chances of recovery

Bladder and pelvic floor weaknesses are not ailments which, as a woman, are mute. Physical therapies - such as pelvic floor training for stress incontinence - as well as drug treatments and inserted prostheses for the bladder sphincter can do a great deal here. If these forms of therapy provide little or no relief, surgical procedures - such as minimally invasive surgery of the urethral ligaments or operative elevation of the vagina - are also available. "Here, for example, we can cure the vagina in 87-90% of cases within 5 years," says Kölbl.