Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2023 May 11;20(10):5791.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph20105791.

Group-Based Pelvic Floor Telerehabilitation to Treat Urinary Incontinence in Older Women: A Feasibility Study

Mélanie Le Berre  1   2 , Johanne Filiatrault  1   2 , Barbara Reichetzer  3   4   5 , Chantale Dumoulin  1   2
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Group-Based Pelvic Floor Telerehabilitation to Treat Urinary Incontinence in Older Women: A Feasibility Study

Mélanie Le Berre et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

Less than half of women with urinary incontinence (UI) receive treatment, despite the high prevalence and negative impact of UI and the evidence supporting the efficacy of pelvic floor muscle training (PFMT). A non-inferiority randomized controlled trial aiming to support healthcare systems in delivering continence care showed that group-based PFMT was non-inferior and more cost-effective than individual PFMT to treat UI in older women. Recently, the COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the importance of providing online treatment options. Therefore, this pilot study aimed to assess the feasibility of an online group-based PFMT program for UI in older women. Thirty-four older women took part in the program. Feasibility was assessed from both participant and clinician perspectives. One woman dropped out. Participants attended 95.2% of all scheduled sessions, and the majority (32/33, 97.0%) completed their home exercises 4 to 5 times per week. Most women (71.9%) were completely satisfied with the program's effects on their UI symptoms after completion. Only 3 women (9.1%) reported that they would like to receive additional treatment. Physiotherapists reported high acceptability. The fidelity to the original program guidelines was also good. An online group-based PFMT program appears feasible for the treatment of UI in older women, from both participant and clinician perspectives.

Keywords: aged; feasibility studies; telerehabilitation; urinary incontinence; women’s health.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript; or in the decision to publish the results.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flowchart of study participants from recruitment and study participation to completion of the final assessments. The bold was used in this figure to highlight the numbers.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Number of times per week each participant reported performing the exercises throughout the 12-week teleGROUP program. Each participant, labeled with a unique alphanumeric identifier visible on the right, is represented in a different color, and the weekly median is represented in black. As most participants completed their exercises 5 times per week, their data overlap under the median line.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Hannestad Y.S., Rortveit G., Sandvik H., Hunskaar S. A community-based epidemiological survey of female urinary incontinence: The Norwegian EPINCONT Study. J. Clin. Epidemiol. 2000;53:1150–1157. doi: 10.1016/S0895-4356(00)00232-8. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Milsom I., Altman D., Cartwright R., Lapitan M., Nelson R., Sillén U., Tikkinen K. Epidemiology of urinary incontinence (UI) and other lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS), pelvic organ prolapse (POP) and anal incontinence (AI) In: Abrams P., Cardozo L., Wagg A., Wein A., editors. Incontinence, 6th ed., Proceedings of the ICS 2016, Tokyo, Japan, 1–3 June 2016. Volume 5. International Continence Society; Bristol, UK: 2017. pp. 15–108.
    1. Ko Y., Lin S.-J., Salmon J.W., Bron M.S. The impact of urinary incontinence on quality of life of the elderly. Am. J. Manag. Care. 2005;11:S103–S111. - PubMed
    1. Melville J.L., Fan M.Y., Rau H., Nygaard I.E., Katon W.J. Major depression and urinary incontinence in women: Temporal associations in an epidemiologic sample. Am. J. Obstet. Gynecol. 2009;201:e491–e497. doi: 10.1016/j.ajog.2009.05.047. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Castaneda G., Lee M.J., Kang J. Risk Factors for Institutionalization Among the Elderly: A Systematic Literature Review. Arch. Phys. Med. Rehabil. 2022;103:e4. doi: 10.1016/j.apmr.2022.01.009. - DOI

Publication types