INTRODUCTION AND HYPOTHESIS: Obesity is associated with an increased prevalence of female stress urinary incontinence (SUI). Mid-urethral polypropylene sling is considered the surgical gold standard for treatment of SUI. We reviewed the current literature on efficacy at 1 year (or more) and perioperative safety of synthetic mid-urethral sling procedures for SUI in obese women.

METHODS: A systematic search of PubMed, Embase and the Cochrane databases was performed using the MeSH terms "Stress urinary incontinence", "Overweight", "Obesity" and "Surgery". We included 13 full-text papers published from January 1995 to May 2014. We defined two groups of women: non-obese (BMI below 30 kg/m(2)) and obese (BMI above 30 kg/m(2)). Data regarding subjective and objective cure and selected perioperative complications were pooled and compared.

RESULTS: The pooled data from the 13 studies showed that 76.4% and 74.7% of non-obese and obese women, respectively, were subjectively cured (p = 0.70), and 83.3% and 79.2%, respectively, were objectively cured (p = 0.56). Bladder perforation was more frequently reported in non-obese women (p <  0.01). We did not detect a significant difference in postoperative urine retention or sling excision between the two groups (p = 0.36 and p = 0.17, respectively).

CONCLUSIONS: Cure rates were found to be comparable in obese and non-obese women. Perioperative complications were not reported to occur more often in obese women. The outcomes of sling procedures for SUI appear to be comparable in obese and non-obese women, and counselling of obese women regarding outcomes and perioperative complications can be similar.