The univariate analysis for regression unveiled an
interaction between diabetes mellitus and BMI, meaning
that the association between UI and DM is higher if
diabetic women are more overweight and less pronounced
if diabetic women have lower BMI. This finding is
supported by other research [5], indicating that as much
as 80% of type II DM can be attributed to obesity. The
interaction between DM and BMI is also supporting the
hypothesis in our “Introduction” that the combination of
DM and obesity leads to an increased intraabdominal
pressure and as a consequence to stress incontinence. In
the present sample, overweight and obesity rather than
metabolic disturbances (DM) seemed to be predominant in
the etiology of UI, which is mirrored in the general high
proportion of stress and mixed UI.