Some Urologic Problems that Come from Obesity

1: Impotence: Obesity causes impotence via a variety of mechanisms, such as hormonal imbalances, lipid/cholesterol problems, vascular disease, hypertension, and the metabolic syndrome. Treating the obesity often improves the erectile function.
2: Male Infertility: Obese men often have lower sperm counts than normal weight men and the sperm from the over-weight men often does not function as well as sperm from a normal-weight man. Obese men have hormonal imbalances that are partially responsible for this phenomenon, but other coexistent factors, such as the metabolic syndrome, also contribute.
3: Kidney stones: Obese men and women, via their diets, have an increased urinary acid load to the tubules within the kidney, and the acidic environment facilitates the formation of kidney stones. Diets high in fat and animal protein, whether the protein comes from red meat, fish, or poultry, contribute most to the acid load. Treating stones in obese patients can be considerably more challenging than in thinner people as well.
4: Urinary Incontinence: Obese people have an increased risk of pelvic prolapse and stress urinary incontinence, the incontinence that comes from coughing, sneezing, and laughing. In addition, treatment of the incontinence is made more complicated due to the obesity.