20
During a routine health maintenance visit, we see a 45-year-old woman who complains of urge incontinence which has gotten progressively worse over the last 2 years, significantly impacting on her quality of life. Her past history is remarkable for three pregnancies (she had urge incontinence associated with each of these), and forceps were used during two of the births. She takes lorazepam occasionally at night for difficulty sleeping. She is on no other medications and has no smoking history. Her caffeine intake consists of 750mL (25 oz) of coffee per day. Her clinical examination is unremarkable except for visible urine leakage when she is asked to cough while in the lithotomy position. Her post-void residual urine volume is 20mL and a urinalysis is unremarkable. She recently read in the paper that caffeine can cause urinary incontinence and wants to know if this is true or if there are other factors that could be contributing to her problem.
