Urogenital Dysfunction Among Female And Male High School Cross-country Runners

Abstract

While urinary stress incontinence or dysfunctions associated with this condition has been reported in various adult and female sport populations, less is known on their prevalence among distance runners, particularly adolescent female and male distance runners. PURPOSE: To determine the prevalence of urogenital dysfunction (UD) among female and male high school cross-country runners. METHODS: Participants consisted of 104 runners (48 females, 56 males; age: 15.7 ± 1.2y), who competed in interscholastic cross-country in southern California. Each runner completed the Urinary Distress Inventory 6 (UDI-6) to assess urinary dysfunction. The UDI-6 is a six-symptom inventory that allows participants to categorize their symptoms during activities. Runners were identified as having had UD if they reported experiencing any of the six symptoms during the past 3 months. The runners completed the UDI-6 separately for symptoms during running and non-running activities. If a runner reported any of the six symptoms with “somewhat”, “moderately”, or “quite often”, they were considered to have demonstrated UD. Relative risks (RR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated to examine associations between sex and UD. RESULTS: Overall, the number of runners reporting at least one UD symptom was twice as high during non-running activities (56.5%) than running activities (28.3%). Females were more likely than males to report two or more different UD symptoms during non-running activities (39.2% vs. 19.4%; p=0.06) and running activities (13.7% vs. 8.1%; p=0.04). Two female runners reported all 6 UD symptoms during running. Overall, frequent urination and leakage related to feeling of urgency were the most common urogenital dysfunction symptoms reported by the runners; and were reported more commonly during non-running activities compared to running activities (i.e., 45.2% vs. 13.5%, 21.2% vs 7.7%; respectively). Females were twice as likely (RR=2.06, 95% CI: 1.4-3.0; p=0.001) than males to report leakage related to feeling of urgency during non-running activities. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings indicated that urinary dysfunction symptoms are prevalent during non-running and running activities in high school cross-country runners; more so for females.