Women who reported vaginal dryness and experienced vaginal discharge had more than one and a half times the risk of developing urinary incontinence following menopause.

Those who had diabetic peripheral neuropathy and underwent a past hysterectomy had nearly twice the risk of experiencing urinary incontinence. Diabetic neuropathy is nerve damage caused by diabetes that can affect various parts of the body.

A history of six or more urinary tract infections (UTIs) also raised the risk of incontinence nearly twofold.

Postmenopausal women often experience urinary incontinence due to low hormone levels. Estrogen helps to maintain the health of a woman's bladder and urethra. As estrogen levels decline, women may develop bladder control problems.

In the study conducted in various medical facilities in Washington state, researchers studied 1,000 postmenopausal women aged 55 to 75 years. The women were evaluated for urinary incontinence at a baseline, 12-month and 24-month visit.

Among the women who had no incontinence at baseline, 19 percent reported some degree of incontinence both at the one-year and two-year follow-up visit.

Individual predictors most closely linked to the development of incontinence included being white, vaginal symptoms and a high number of urinary tract infections. The use of vaginal estrogen cream was also found to increase the risk of the condition.

Gynecological symptoms, including vaginal dryness and vaginal discharge, and a previous hysterectomy were the greatest predictors of severe incontinency among postmenopausal women.

The study was published in the October 2006 issue of Obstetrics & Gynecology. The authors recommend that additional studies examine the relationship between vaginal symptoms and estrogen cream use and incontinence risk. Researchers should also further investigate diabetic peripheral neuropathy and hysterectomy as predictors.

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