Medicine by the Numbers
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Pelvic Floor Muscle Training for Treatment of Urinary Incontinence in Women
Am Fam Physician. 2019 Dec 1;100(11):online.
PELVIC FLOOR MUSCLE TRAINING FOR TREATMENT OF URINARY INCONTINENCE IN WOMEN
| Benefits | Harms |
|---|---|
1 in 2 patients with stress urinary incontinence perceived they were cured | No patients had significant adverse effects |
1 in 4 patients with any type of urinary incontinence perceived they were cured |
PELVIC FLOOR MUSCLE TRAINING FOR TREATMENT OF URINARY INCONTINENCE IN WOMEN
| Benefits | Harms |
|---|---|
1 in 2 patients with stress urinary incontinence perceived they were cured | No patients had significant adverse effects |
1 in 4 patients with any type of urinary incontinence perceived they were cured |
Details for This Review
Study Population: Adult women with stress urinary incontinence (UI), urge UI, or mixed UI
Efficacy End Points: Patient-perceived cure or improvement, symptoms, quality of life, frequency of leakage episodes, amount of urine lost
Harm End Points: Discomfort, soreness, pain, bleeding
Narrative: UI is common in adult women, leading to health complications such as rash and urinary tract infections. UI can also lead to a decrease in social and physical activities as well as impaired emotional and psychological well-being. There are two main causes of UI. The first cause is neuromuscular, involving pelvic floor weakness, which results in suboptimal positioning of the urethra and inability to close the bladder outlet (stress UI). The second cause is overactivity of the detrusor muscle, which leads to increased pressure and inability to close the bladder outlet accompanied by the immediate urge to void (urge UI). Pelvic floor muscle training (PFMT) seeks to reverse this weakness and facilitate timely contraction of these muscles. There are multiple types of PFMT programs, with or without a biofeedback component. PFMT is considered first-line therapy for all types of urinary incontinence due to the significant adverse effects of the anticholinergic medications that are commonly prescribed
Copyright © 2019 MD Aware, LLC (theNNT.com). Used with permission.
This series is coordinated by Dean A. Seehusen, MD, MPH, AFP assistant medical editor, and Daniel Runde, MD, from the NNT Group.
A collection of Medicine by the Numbers published in AFP is available at https://www.aafp.org/afp/mbtn.
Reference
1. Dumoulin C, Cacciari LP, Hay-Smith EJC. Pelvic floor muscle training versus no treatment, or inactive control treatments, for urinary incontinence in women. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2018;(10):CD005654.
Copyright © 2019 by the American Academy of Family Physicians.
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