Abstract

In light of the wide spread recommendation to reduce caffeine consumption in women who report urinary incontinence (UI) in order to diminish leakage episodes, we performed a systematic review of the literature to evaluate the evidence that supports this recommendation. Objective: To determine the relationship between caffeine consumption and incidence or progression of UI. Design: Systematic review of literature. Data sources: Using medical subject headings and keywords, we conducted an electronic literature search of PubMed, The Cochrane Library, Springer Link, and LILACS databases. Study selection: All articles describing prevalence and/or incidence and reporting an effect statistic for caffeine consumption and UI were included. Articles with no data reported were excluded, as were articles in languages other than English, Spanish and French. Studies that did not report age specific prevalence of UI as those conducted in non-human subjects were excluded. Complete searches (shown in appendix) was conducted. All retrieved papers were reviewed. Data extraction: Three investigators independently extracted the data. Results: 60 articles were found after excluding for subject characteristics or methodology. We selected a total of ten studies: two randomized trials, one prospective cross over, four longitudinal cohort, and three cross-sectional studies. Conclusions: Low and moderate caffeine consumption in healthy women was not associated with incidence and/or progression of UI. Caffeine restriction did not improve symptoms. There is insufficient evidence supporting caffeine restriction for an improvement of symptoms