Prevalence of urinary incontinence in female CrossFit athletes: a systematic review with meta-analysis

Abstract

Introduction and hypothesis

Studies on the prevalence of urinary incontinence (UI) among CrossFit practitioners are on the rise. This systematic review with meta-analysis was aimed at determining the prevalence of UI among CrossFit practitioners.

Methods

A systematic review of the literature was performed by searching MEDLINE/PubMed, Scopus, and SPORTDiscus through January 2021. The search strategy included the keywords CrossFit, urine incontinence, exercise, high impact and pelvic floor dysfunction. The inclusion criterion was any study with a sample of CrossFit practitioners and results separated from the other fitness modalities analysed. The subjects were women with no restriction of age, parity, experience or frequency of training. Quality assessment of the studies included was conducted using the Oxford Centre of Evidence-Based Medicine scale and the Newcastle–Ottawa Scale (NOS) adapted for cross-sectional studies.

Results

Thirteen studies (6 comparative and 7 non-comparative) were included for the systematic review, all using a cross-sectional design. The level of evidence was 4, with their quality ranging from poor ( n = 10) to fair ( n = 3). A total of 4,823 women aged 18 to 71 were included, 91.0% participated in CrossFit, and 1,637 presented UI, which indicates a prevalence of 44.5%. Also, 55.3% and 40.7% presented mild or moderate UI respectively. Stress UI was the most common type reported (81.2%).

Conclusions

The factors that increased the likelihood of UI were age, body mass index and parity. Exercises based on jumps were commonly associated with urine leakage. CrossFit practitioners presented higher UI than control groups.