RESEARCH. A new research center on incontinence will be established at University of Gothenburg, through support from SCA. The Center will be called the Gothenburg Continence Research Center, GCRC. It will be a multidisciplinary research center that gathers researchers from diverse fields such as gynecology, materials science, health economics and health and care sciences.
Incontinence research is well established in Gothenburg. This was recently made clear when, among other things, the International Continence Society (ICS) selected Gothenburg as the location for its World Congress in 2019.
Incontinence is a very common problem, especially among older women. As many as 20 percent of all women are operated on for incontinence during their lifetime.
“Women have a short urethra that is closed by the muscles that surround it. If these muscles are damaged or weakened, incontinence often occurs over time. We have identified several risk factors where vaginal delivery can clearly be linked to increased risk of future incontinence. Other important factors include being overweight and a family history of incontinence,” says Ian Milsom, Professor of Gynecology and Obstetrics, who initiated the new Research Center.
He continues:
“Every year approximately 100 000 children are born in Sweden, and our research shows that upwards of one out of five women will later experience urinary leakage. Many are affected and if we could prevent some of this incontinence, it would be very meaningful.”
Major social costs
Despite the current availability of good products and aids, everyday life for those with urinary leakage can be extremely negatively impacted. Incontinence also results in increased social costs. Ten years ago, SBU calculated that approximately two percent of all healthcare costs stem from incontinence related care.
“Incontinence is often the reason that an elderly woman is no longer able to care for herself in her home environment, and has to move to another form of accommodation. If we can find new ways of preventing incontinence from occurring and treat it, we would not only increase quality of life for these older individuals, but they would also be able to remain in their home environments longer,” says Ian Milsom.
Research at the Gothenburg Continence Research Center will handle both urinary and fecal incontinence from different perspectives, as well as incontinence in both women and men. Researchers from a number of institutes at the University of Gothenburg are involved in the Center.
Visiting professor on the way in
Even now, it is clear that the Center will receive international reinforcement. Adrian Wagg, Professor of Health Aging at the University of Alberta, Canada, will be a visiting professor (20 percent). Adrian Wagg researches all aspects of urinary incontinence and is one of the world’s leading experts in the field.
Another key person at the Center will be Helle Wijk, Docent at the Institute of Health and Care Sciences, who primarily researches how care and living environment design affects health, function and wellbeing.
“Incontinence is a major social problem that will continue to increase relative to both the aging and increasingly overweight population. We want to create new ways of treating incontinence that increase quality of life and reduce suffering, not just for those individuals that are incontinent, but also their relatives,” says Ian Milsom.
Even urologists with expertise in prostate research will be important to the Center, as will collaborations with Health Economics at the School of Business, Economics and Law. Chalmers contributes expertise in Materials Science, which can lead to improved aids for people with incontinence.
Breaking social taboos
The Center can be established thanks to support from SCA. It is a leading global hygiene and forest products company that develops, among other things, products that improve the quality of life for persons with incontinence. The investment is in line with the SCA’s ambition of breaking the social taboos that surround incontinence in many countries. SCA works to counteract this taboo through information, advertising, education and global forums.
