Medical Journal of the Islamic Republic Of Iran

en Comparison of Postural Control of Females with and without Urinary Incontinence: A Case-Control Study Physiotherapy Physiotherapy Original Research Original Research Background: So far, there is much less information about the effects of urinary incontinence on postural control. Therefore the aim of this study is to investigate the differences in postural control using linear and non-linear analyses of the center of pressure (COP) time-series in anteroposterior (AP) and mediolateral (ML) directions between females with and without stress urinary incontinence (SUI).    Methods: This case-control study included 22 continent females and 22 SUI females. In this study, static postural control during four different postural tasks was evaluated using a force plate.  All participants performed separate 60-sec standing trials with eyes open in the empty bladder and full bladder conditions. Mean, range, velocity, area circle of COP displacements, and approximate entropy (ApEn) of COP time-series were calculated from the 60-sec standing trials for all participants.  The independent sample t-test was also used to compare COP variables between the two groups and paired sample t-test was used to assess changes between the full bladder and empty bladder conditions within each group. The effect size of Cohen's d was used to assess the magnitude of the differences between the two groups.    Results: The findings revealed a significant group × task interaction for the mean of ML displacement and ApEn of COP. SUI females showed more AP displacement range in the full bladder (pvalue= 0.020, effect size=0.74) and a higher velocity (empty bladder: p=0.040, effect size=0.63) (full bladder: p=0.020, effect size=0.75) than the continent group. Generally, the SUI females had lower ApEn than the continent females, although the differences were not significant.  While the variables of COP were unaffected by bladder fullness in the continent group, the SUI group in full bladder condition experienced more AP range (p=0.030), and area circle (p=0.007) of COP sway in quiet standing.           Conclusion: These results provide more support for the hypothesis that postural control can be impaired following SUI, although future investigations on this topic are recommended. Urinary Incontinence, Pelvic Floor Disorder, Postural Control, Balance, Center of Pressure 463 474 http://mjiri.iums.ac.ir/browse.php?a_code=A-10-7307-1&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Leila Alizadeh leilaalizadeh860@yahoo.com 200319475328460071000 200319475328460071000 No Department of Physiotherapy, School of Rehabilitation, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Afsaneh Nikjooy nikjoy.a@iums.ac.ir 200319475328460071001 200319475328460071001 Yes Department of Physiotherapy, School of Rehabilitation, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Behnoosh Vasaghi –Gharamaleki bvasaghi@gmail.com 200319475328460071002 200319475328460071002 No Department of Basic Sciences in Rehabilitation, School of Rehabilitation, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Reza Salehi salehi200@yahoo.com 200319475328460071003 200319475328460071003 No Department of Physiotherapy, School of Rehabilitation, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Ali Amiri amiri.alipt10@ yahoo.com 200319475328460071004 200319475328460071004 No Department of Physiotherapy, School of Rehabilitation, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Hamed Ghomashchi h_ghomashchi@yahoo.com 200319475328460071005 200319475328460071005 No Engineering Health Team, KITE Research Institute, Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, University Health Network (UHN), Toronto, Canada Saman Salehi salehis@razi.tums.ac.ir 200319475328460071006 200319475328460071006 No Department of Physiotherapy, School of Rehabilitation, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran Khaled Rezaie Khaled_rezaie@yahoo.com 200319475328460071007 200319475328460071007 No Department of Physiotherapy, School of Rehabilitation, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran