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Review
. 2023 Sep 11;15(9):e45011.
doi: 10.7759/cureus.45011. eCollection 2023 Sep.

The Effectiveness of Pelvic Floor Muscle Exercise in Urinary Incontinence: A Systematic Literature Review and Meta-Analysis

Nicole S Parra  1 , Arturo P Jaramillo  2 , Jhon Zambrano  3 , Diego Segovia  1 , Javier Castells  4 , Jhoanny C Revilla  5
Affiliations
Review

The Effectiveness of Pelvic Floor Muscle Exercise in Urinary Incontinence: A Systematic Literature Review and Meta-Analysis

Nicole S Parra et al. Cureus. .

Abstract

Urinary incontinence (UI) is a prevalent health concern in females over 60, but it is prevalent in a smaller percentage of males. The medical and social elements of UI are crucial. This disorder may cause embarrassment and low self-esteem, reducing social and physical activities. Consequently, this may impair healthy aging. Researchers have shown that pelvic floor muscle training (PFMT) may improve UI symptoms in middle-aged, older, and young people. Clinical practice highlights the importance of PFMT for UI due to its low cost-effectiveness. To assess PFMT's overall efficacy, we conducted a systematic review of the literature (SRL) and a meta-analysis (MA) of randomized clinical trials (RCTs). The previous 10 years of published material were combed using the online databases the Cochrane Library, PubMed, and Google Scholar. Eligible total studies were RCTs referring to the effectiveness of PFMT. The pooled incidence, risk ratio, and 95% confidence interval (CI) of the effectiveness of PFMT were calculated using the fixed effects model. Given the possibility of a between-study variance, we used the fixed effects model rather than the random effects model.

Keywords: male urinary incontinence; pelvic floor muscle exercises; pelvic floor muscle training; stress urinary incontinence; urinary incontinence.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Identification of studies via databases and registers
Figure 2
Figure 2. Forest plot for studies on the efficacy of PFMT versus the control group
PFMT: pelvic floor muscle training, CI: confidence interval References: [11-15]
Figure 3
Figure 3. Forest plot for studies on the efficacy of PFMT versus the control group
PFMT: pelvic floor muscle training, CI: confidence interval References: [16-20]
Figure 4
Figure 4. Forest plot for studies on the overall efficacy of PFMT versus the control group
PFMT: pelvic floor muscle training, CI: confidence interval References: [11-20]
Figure 5
Figure 5. Forest plot for all included studies on the efficacy of PFMT versus the control group
PFMT: pelvic floor muscle training References: [11-20]
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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