Female sexual function and urinary incontinence in nulliparous athletes: An exploratory study

To estimate the prevalence of Female Sexual Dysfunction (FSD) and Urinary Incontinence (UI) symptom in nulliparous athletes and analyze the risk factors for these dysfunctions. A cross-sectional study. The International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire-Short Form (ICIQ-UI-SF) and the Female Sexual Function Index (FSFI) were applied to assess the UI and the FSD. 50 athletes with ≥18 years old. We found a prevalence of 48% of UI and 44% of FSD among nulliparous athletes. The rate of athletes having concomitant FSD and UI was 24%. We found a significant difference between high and low impact sports in the ICIQ-UI-SF score (p = 0.028). Hours of training (p = 0.007; R2 = 0.21) was found to be a risk factor for UI. Incontinent athletes demonstrated a Relative Risk of 2.7 to develop sexual desire problem when compared to the continents (p = 0.04; 95% CIs: 1.50–4.89). This study found a high prevalence of both UI and FSD among nulliparous athletes. Furthermore, nulliparous athletes practicing high-impact modalities are the most susceptible to UI. The hours of training per day was considered a risk factor to develop UI, and incontinent athletes have more chances of showing difficulties in sexual desire. •This is the first study that investigates concomitant urinary incontinence and female sexual dysfunction among athletes.•This study showed that the hours of training/day is a risk factor to develop UI.•The incontinent athletes have more chances of developing difficulty/inability to achieve sexual desire than the continents.