The positive correlation between parity and overactive bladder in American adults - the mediating effect of body mass index

Q: What is the main research question about parity and overactive bladder?

The study examines whether parity is positively associated with overactive bladder (OAB) risk in American adults, and whether body mass index (BMI) mediates this relationship.

Q: Which data source and time period are used in the study?

The analysis uses the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) database spanning 2005 to 2018.

Q: How is OAB defined in the results?

OAB is identified using the Overactive Bladder Symptom Score.

Q: What does the study conclude about BMI’s role?

The study finds that increasing parity is significantly associated with higher OAB prevalence and that BMI plays a partial mediating role, suggesting weight management may reduce OAB risk among women with multiple parities.

Sep 28, 2026

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Overactive bladder (OAB) is a frequent condition that reduces quality of life, especially for women. Because multiple parities may cause long-term adverse effects on female pelvic floor function, parity could influence bladder dysfunction, yet published findings remain inconsistent. Using NHANES data from 2005–2018, this study assessed the relationship between parity and OAB while accounting for key influencing factors through mediation and threshold analyses. Results clarify how parity and BMI jointly relate to OAB risk.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages11

Reading Time28 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Methods

Results

Conclusion

Introduction

Background

Methods and Data Source

Zhao et al. BMC Public Health (2026) 26:12 BMC Public Health [https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-025-25703-8](https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-025-25703-8) RESEARCH Open Access The positive correlation between parity and overactive bladder in American adults: the mediating effect of body mass index Pengpeng Zhao 1,2†, Lei Wang3,4†, Ziwen Jiang 1,2†, Chao Wang5, Yumei Chen 1,2, Jianhua Huang 1,2, Junjun Wu 1,2 and Zhanping Xu 1,2* Abstract Background Overactive bladder (OAB) is a common condition that significantly impacts quality of life, particularly among women. Multiple parities may exert long-term adverse impacts on female pelvic floor function, thereby escalating the risk of bladder dysfunction. Nevertheless, the present research results regarding the relationship between parity and OAB demonstrate inconsistency. Therefore, this study employed data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) database spanning the years 2005 to 2018 to examine the relationship between parity and the risk of OAB while considering various influencing factors. Methods This study utilized data from the NHANES database spanning the years 2005 to 2018. In addition to employing mediation analysis and threshold effect methods to investigate the nonlinear association, it also examined the independent relationship between the number of parities and OAB through multivariable logistic regression and subgroup analyses. Results A total of 12,408 participants were included, with OAB identified based on Overactive Bladder Symptom Score. The results indicated that the higher the number of parities, the higher the prevalence of OAB (OR = 1 . 72, 95% CI: 1.04–2. 83, P = 0 . 033) . Subgroup analysis revealed that the interaction between BMI and hypertension on the prevalence of OAB was significant (P for interaction 0.027 and 0 . 039) . Additionally, BMI was positively correlated with OAB (OR = 1 . 04, 95% CI: 1.03–1. 05, P < 0. 0001), and mediated 13. 65% of the relationship between the number of parities and OAB. Conclusion This research discovered that an increase in the number of parities was significantly correlated with an elevated prevalence of OAB, and BMI played a partial mediating role therein, indicating that weight management among women with multiple parities might be conducive to reducing the risk of OAB. Keywords Parity, Overactive bladder, NHANES, Cross-Sectional study †Pengpeng Zhao, Lei Wang and Ziwen Jiang contributed equally to this work. *Correspondence: Zhanping Xu [qwe16575@163.com](qwe16575@163.com) 1The Eighth Clinical Medical College of Guangzhou University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Foshan, Guangdong 528000, China 2Foshan Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Foshan, Guangdong 528400, China 3The Tenth Clinical Medical College of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine , Zhongshan, Guangdong 528401, China 4Zhongshan Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Zhongshan, Guangdong 528401, China 5Southern Medical University Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, Guangzhou, Guangdong 510315, China © The Author(s) 2025. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, which permits any non-commercial use, sharing, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if you modified the licensed material. You do not have permission under this licence to share adapted material derived from this article or parts of it. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds t

FAQs

What is the main research question about parity and overactive bladder?

The study examines whether parity is positively associated with overactive bladder (OAB) risk in American adults, and whether body mass index (BMI) mediates this relationship.

Which data source and time period are used in the study?

The analysis uses the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) database spanning 2005 to 2018.

How is OAB defined in the results?

OAB is identified using the Overactive Bladder Symptom Score.

What does the study conclude about BMI’s role?

The study finds that increasing parity is significantly associated with higher OAB prevalence and that BMI plays a partial mediating role, suggesting weight management may reduce OAB risk among women with multiple parities.

Sep 28, 2026

Upload by CatatanPagi