In a Cochrane systematic review «Dumoulin C, Cacciari LP, Hay-Smith EJC. Pelvic flo...»1 pelvic floor muscle exercises training (PFMT) increased the perceived cure rate from 6% in control to 56% in the intervention group (4 RCTs, 165 patients). The number of leakage episodes decreased by 1.23 per 24 h (95% CI 1.78-0.68), translating to about 54% reduction in number of leakage episodes. In all studies, stress incontinence (SUI) was classified as mild or moderate.
Adverse events were rare and mild – mostly discomfort or pressure at pelvic floor area.
The quality of evidence was limited due to high risk of bias (lack of blinding and incomplete outcome data).
| Reference | Study type | Population | Intervention and comparison | Outcomes | Risk of bias |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RCT=randomized controlled trial; SR=systematic review; MA=meta-analysis | |||||
| «Dumoulin C, Cacciari LP, Hay-Smith EJC. Pelvic flo...»1 | SR/MA | Adult women with incontinence symptoms | Strengthening exercise vs placebo or no treatment. | Improvement of SUI symptoms, quality of life by I-QOL. adverse events | high |
| Reference | Comments |
|---|---|
| «Dumoulin C, Cacciari LP, Hay-Smith EJC. Pelvic flo...»1 | All trials were small and non-blinded. Most of the analyses used fixed effects model. Trials tested supervised exercise training programs of from 3 to 6 months vs placebo or inactive control with SUI patients. |
Results
| Reference | Number of studies and number of patients (I/C) | Follow-up time | Events I | Events C | Risk ratio (95% CI) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Level of evidence: moderate The quality of evidence was limited due to high risk of bias. I=intervention; C=comparison; CI=confidence interval |
|||||
| «Dumoulin C, Cacciari LP, Hay-Smith EJC. Pelvic flo...»1 | 4 studies (82/83) | 3-6 months | 46 (56 %) | 5 (6 %) | 8.38 (3.68 to 19.07) |
| Reference | Number of studies and number of patients (I/C) | Follow-up time | Events I | Events C | Risk ratio (95% CI) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Level of evidence: moderate The quality of evidence was limited due to high risk of bias. I=intervention; C=comparison; CI=confidence interval |
|||||
| «Dumoulin C, Cacciari LP, Hay-Smith EJC. Pelvic flo...»1 | 3 studies (119/123) | 3-6 months | 88 (74 %) | 14 (11 %) | 6.33 (3.88 to 10.33) |
| Reference | Number of studies and number of patients (I/C) | Follow-up time | Mean (sd) I | Mean (sd) C | Mean difference (95% CI) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Level of evidence: moderate The quality of evidence was limited due to high risk of bias. *Calculated from individual study means. I=intervention; C=comparison; CI=confidence interval |
|||||
| «Dumoulin C, Cacciari LP, Hay-Smith EJC. Pelvic flo...»1 | 7 studies (219/213) | 3-6 months | 2.28* | -1.23 (-1.78 to -0.68) | |