Influence of Obesity on Short-term Surgical Outcome of the Transobturator Tape Procedure in Patients with Stress Urinary Incontinence.

PURPOSE: The purpose of our study was to evaluate the influence of obesity on clinical characteristics, quality of life (QoL), and outcomes in patients with stress urinary incontinence (SUI) who underwent the transobturator tape (TOT) surgery.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: The medical records of SUI patients who underwent the TOT operation from January 2007 to February 2009 were retrospectively reviewed. Patients with any neurologic diseases that affect the voiding pattern were excluded, and 107 patients were enrolled. The patients were divided into nonobese (BMI<25) and obese (BMI≥25) groups. The preoperative evaluation consisted of history taking, physical examination, cystometrography, 3-day frequency-volume chart, King's Health Questionnaire (KHQ), and symptom perception scale questionnaires.
RESULTS: The nonobese group consisted of 55 (51.4%) patients and the obese group of 52 (48.6%). The median age was 49.0 (range, 30.8-73.5) years in the nonobese group and 52.7 (range, 35.5-73.5) years in the obese group (p>0.05). The obese group showed a higher SUI symptom grade, urethral hypermobility, urgency, and urge incontinence scale than did the nonobese group (each p<0.05). Neither the domains of the KHQ nor the items on the 3-day frequency-volume chart differed between the two groups (each p>0.05). After the operation, the symptom scales and parameters in the 3-day frequency-volume chart of the obese group were similar to those of the nonobese group (each p>0.05). The objective success, recurrence, and complication rates at 1year were similar in the two groups (each p>0.05).
CONCLUSIONS: Obese SUI patients had worse SUI symptom grade, urgency, and urge incontinence symptoms than did nonobese patients. However, surgical correction by the TOT operation could restore the symptoms and voiding parameters as effectively in obese patients as in nonobese patients.