Urinary Incontinence and Low Energy Avaliability in Professional and Pre-professional Dancers: a Cross-sectional Study

Urinary incontinence is a widespread issue among the female athletic population, negatively impacting both performance and lifestyle. The discipline of dance subjects the pelvic floor to repeated stress, which, as in other sports, could lead to the development of incontinence and other pelvic symptoms. Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport (RED-S) syndrome is caused by a prolonged and problematic energy deficit, or Low Energy Availability (LEA), and could be one of the contributing factors to the development of urinary incontinence (UI). The world of professional dance is characterized by a high risk of RED-S; nonetheless, few studies have investigated the prevalence of urinary incontinence and its relationship with low energy availability in this context.

This study aims at investigating the prevalence of urinary incontinence and the risk of relative Low Energy Availability (LEA) in a population of professional and pre-professional female dancers, and secondarily, to study the correlation between these two parameters and their impact on the participants' quality of life and performance.

Data Collection: Administration of validated Italian questionnaires for self-reported urinary incontinence (International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire - Urinary Incontinence Short Form or ICIQ-UI SF) and for the risk of Low Energy Availability (Low Energy Availability in Females Questionnaire or LEAF-Q) via Google Forms. All data will be collected anonymously.

Statistical Analisys: Based on the data distribution (normal or non-normal), the most appropriate descriptive statistics will be used, along with Student's t-test or the Mann-Whitney test, calculating the 95% confidence interval for all variables under study (pages 4-5 of the research project).

All analyses will be conducted using SPSS (version 26 or later) and, for specific verifications, JASP (version 0.96.0).

Inclusion criteria

• Professional dancers (must have danced professionally, with a work contract in the last 6 months) OR pre-professional student (currently enrolled in a high-level dance academy or pre-professional course)

Exclusion criteria

• Current or previous pregnancy
• Low level of Italian or English language