Project description:Introduction and hypothesisUrinary incontinence is common postpartum. Our aims were to assess whether antenatal exercise including pelvic floor muscle training (PFMT) has long-term effects on urinary incontinence (UI) and to explore factors associated with UI 7 years postpartum.MethodsA follow-up of a two-centre randomized controlled trial performed at St. Olavs Hospital and Stavanger University Hospital, Norway. In the original trial women were randomized to a 12-week structured exercise protocol including PFMT or standard antenatal care during pregnancy. Link to an electronic questionnaire was sent by postal mail 7 years postpartum. Prevalence of UI was assessed with Sandvik severity index and compared between groups. Factors associated with UI were studied using multivariable logistic regression analysis.ResultsThe response rate was 35% (298/855). UI was reported by 78 (51%) in the intervention group and 63 (57%) in the control group (p = 0.539). In the multivariable logistic regression analyses, women with UI at inclusion had a five-fold increase in odds of UI at 7 years (OR 5.4, 95% CI 2.6, 11.5). Engaging in regular exercise was not significantly associated with UI at 7 years; however, UI was associated with lower exercise intensity (OR 2.4, 95% CI 1.2, 4.6).ConclusionsWe found no group differences of antenatal exercise including PFMT on UI after 7 years among the responders. UI in pregnancy increased the risk of long-term UI. Regular exercise was not associated with UI at 7 years; however, women with UI were more than twice as likely to exercise at lower intensity than continent women.
Project description:BACKGROUND:Childbirth is a major risk factor for urinary incontinence (UI). As a result, pelvic floor muscle training (PFMT) is commonly recommended during and after pregnancy to prevent the onset of UI. PFMT is often classed as a physical activity (PA) behaviour, hence PA guidelines for postnatal women encourage PFMT alongside aerobic activities. However, postnatal lifestyle interventions tend to overlook PFMT which can be detrimental to women's health and future health risks, including urinary incontinence. This study aimed to explore perceptions and acceptability of a postnatal physical activity and PFMT intervention with postnatal women in Scotland. METHODS:We recruited women who had given birth within the last 5 years by displaying posters in health centres and community centres in Stirling and through Facebook. Data was gathered via online and face-to-face focus groups, that were audio recorded and transcribed verbatim. Analytic themes were initially organised under related concepts derived from the topic guide and thematic analysis conducted. Subsequent analysis was by the Framework technique. RESULTS:A total of seven online and face-to-face focus group discussions with 31 women identified there was a clear intention behaviour gap for engagement in PA, with both psychological and logistical barriers identified such as motivation and childcare. This was distinct from PFMT where there was a feeling of helplessness around not knowing how to perform a correct PFMT contraction subsequently resulting in women not adhering to PFMT guidance. Women felt there was no accessible PFMT advice available through the NHS. Some participants had received PFMT advice after childbirth and spoke of the Squeezee app being useful in adhering to a PFMT regimen but they did require additional teaching on how to do correct contractions. There was need for clarity and practical support for PFMT in the postnatal period with an approved intervention incorporating an accessible app being suggested by participants. CONCLUSIONS:Women would like to be trained on postnatal PFMT but face barriers to accessing adequate information and education on how to do a PFMT contraction. An intervention combining PFMT training and an app would be the most useful for their needs and circumstances.
Project description:ObjectiveTo evaluate the effectiveness of pelvic floor muscle training (PFMT) on pelvic floor muscle (PFM) function and quality of life (QoL) in women with stress urinary incontinence (SUI) and pelvic organ prolapse (POP).MethodsThis study will be a randomized, controlled, parallel, and blinded clinical trial. The final sample will consist of 32 women diagnosed with SUI and cystocele (stage I and II). All volunteers will be assessed and reassessed using the same protocol: assessment form, gynecological examination, functional evaluation of PFM, and questionnaires to assess quality of life, urinary function, and sexual function. All volunteers will be evaluated for satisfaction levels post-treatment. The intervention will be PFMT, totaling 16 sessions to be conducted twice a week. Reevaluation will take place at the end of treatment and 1 month after completion of PFMT. Descriptive analysis and repeated measures ANOVA will be used for result analysis. A significance level of p<0.05 will be considered for all statistical tests.Ethics and disseminationThis study has been submitted to the Ethics in Research Committee of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte and approved under protocol number 5.826.563. It has been registered with the Brazilian Clinical Trials Registry ReBec (RBR-49p6g3t). It is expected that these studies will provide a deeper understanding of the efficacy of PFMT in women with SUI and cystocele. Additionally, it aims to provide more insights into the efficacy of PFMT prior to surgery.
Project description:BackgroundPelvic floor muscle training is recommended as first line treatment for urinary incontinence in women based on three proposed theorized mechanisms: 'Enhanced Pelvic Floor Muscle Strength,' 'Maximized Awareness of Timing,' and 'Strengthened Core Muscles'. The purpose of this scoping review was to systematically map evidence for and against theorized mechanisms through which pelvic floor muscle training interventions work to reduce urinary incontinence in women.MethodsThe scoping review is based upon a comprehensive search of relevant literature published from 1990 to 2020 in PubMed, CINAHL, PsycINFO, ClinialTrials.gov, reference lists from review articles, and hand searches of articles by known researchers in the field. We included English-language, peer-reviewed articles on pelvic floor muscle training as an intervention for adult women if they provided empirical evidence to testing the theorized intervention mechanisms. Two independent reviewers screened articles for inclusion and extracted data to describe details of each study (author, year, country, design, sampling), measures of pelvic floor muscle strength and urinary incontinence, statistical analysis of linkage between changes in the measures, and pelvic floor muscle training regimens. Data were summarized to facilitate the integration of diverse evidence to draw conclusions on supporting or refuting the three proposed theorized mechanisms for managing urinary incontinence in women.ResultsOf the 278 articles identified with the search, 13 (4.7%) met inclusion criteria. There was weak to no evidence for the mechanism of enhanced pelvic floor muscle strength, equivocal support for maximized awareness of timing, and no evidence for strengthened core muscles.ConclusionsThis review revealed extremely limited data supporting the proposed theorized mechanisms underlying pelvic floor muscle training programs to manage urinary incontinence in women. Such evidence is needed to help women and clinicians understand how, why and when a woman benefits from pelvic floor muscle training. Future studies should specifically state and report statistical analysis that relates the theorized mechanisms to the training outcomes observed.
Project description:The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of a smartphone-based reminder system in promoting pelvic floor muscle training (PFMT) to help postpartum women manage urinary incontinence (UI).Forty-nine and 212 postpartum women in the intervention and control groups, respectively, received PFMT guidance using a leaflet and verbal instruction as the standard care at an obstetrics clinic in Japan. Women in the intervention group also received PFMT support using the smartphone-based reminder system between January and August 2014. For analysis, they were compared with historical controls between February 2011 and January 2012, who did not receive such support and were chosen by propensity score matching. The outcomes examined were PFMT adherence and UI prevalence. The former consisted of implementation rate (i.e., the percentage of women who reported performing PFMT during the intervention period), training intensity (i.e., the number of pelvic floor muscle contractions (PFMCs) per day), and training frequency (i.e., the number of days PFMT was performed per week); the latter consisted of self-reported UI prevalence at baseline and at the end of the eight-week intervention period.Propensity score matching resulted in 58 postpartum women (n = 29 per group). The intervention group exhibited better PFMT adherence than the control group, in terms of PFMT implementation rate (69 vs. 31%, p = 0.008), median training intensity (15 vs. 1 PFMC reps/day, p = 0.006), and training frequency (7 vs. 3 days/week, p < 0.001). UI prevalence was not different between the groups at baseline, but was significantly reduced in the intervention group at eight weeks (0 vs. 24%, p = 0.004).Our smartphone-based reminder system appears promising in enhancing PFMT adherence and managing postpartum UI in postpartum women. By enhancing PFMT adherence and improving women's ability to manage the condition, the reminder system could improve the health-related quality of life of postpartum women with UI.
Project description:Introduction and hypothesisThe aim of this study was to prospectively identify aspects of baseline demographic, clinical, and pelvic morphology of women with stress urinary incontinence (SUI) that are predictive of cure with physiotherapist-supervised pelvic floor muscle training (PFMT).MethodsWomen ≥18 years old with SUI were recruited from urogynecology and pelvic health physiotherapy clinics. Participants completed a 3-day bladder diary, the International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire Urinary Incontinence Short Form (ICIQ-UI-SF), a standardized pad test, manual assessment of pelvic floor muscle (PFM) strength and tone, and transperineal ultrasound (TPUS) assessment of their urogenital structures at rest while in a supine position and standing, and during contraction, straining, and coughing. Participants attended six physiotherapy sessions over 12 weeks and performed a home PFMT program. The assessment was repeated after the intervention; cure was defined as a dry (≤2 g) pad test.ResultsSeventy-seven women aged 50 (±10) years completed the protocol; 38 (49%) were deemed cured. Based on univariate testing, four predictors were entered into a binary logistic regression model: ICIQ-UI-SF, PFM tone, bladder neck (BN) height in a quiet standing position, and BN height during a cough in a standing position. The model was significant (p < 0.001), accurately classifying outcome in 74% of participants. The model, validated through bootstrapping, performed moderately, with the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve = 0.80 (95% CI: 0.69-0.90; p = 0.00), and with 70% sensitivity and 75% specificity.ConclusionsWomen with better bladder support in a standing position and less severe symptoms were most likely to be cured with PFMT.Clinical trial registration#NCT01602107.
Project description:ObjectivesWe previously reported high rates of urinary incontinence among gynecologic cancer survivors and aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a simple intervention for treatment of urinary incontinence in this population.MethodsWe recruited 40 gynecologic cancer survivors who reported urinary incontinence on a validated questionnaire. Women were randomized to either pelvic floor muscle training/behavioral therapy (treatment group) or usual care (control group). The primary outcome measure, assessed at 12 weeks post intervention, was a 40% difference in the validated Patient Global Impression of Improvement (PGI-I) score. Fisher's exact test was used to identify differences between groups for frequency data; two-sample t-test was conducted for continuous measurements.ResultsMean age of this cohort was 57 (range: 37-79). The majority of the survivors had uterine cancer (60%), 18% had received radiation therapy, 95% had received surgical therapy, and 35% had received chemotherapy. At three months, 80% of the treatment and 40% of the control group reported that their urinary incontinence was "much better" or "very much better" as evaluated by the Patient Global Impression of Improvement scale (p=0.02). Brink's scores were significantly improved in the treatment group as compared to those of the controls (p<0.0001). Treatment group adherence was high; the treatment group performed exercises with an average of 22 days/month.ConclusionsUrinary incontinence negatively affects quality of life, and despite a high prevalence among gynecologic cancer survivors, it is often under-assessed and undertreated. We found a simple intervention that included pelvic floor muscle training and behavioral therapy, which significantly improved cancer survivor's urinary incontinence.
Project description:UnlabelledWHAT'S KNOWN ON THE SUBJECT? AND WHAT DOES THE STUDY ADD?: Stress urinary incontinence (SUI) affects 10-35% of women, and it is sometimes very distressful. Pelvic floor exercises are the first line of treatment, but access barriers or embarrassment may prevent women from seeking help. There is a need for new, simple, and effective ways to deliver treatment. Management of SUI without face-to-face contact is possible, and Internet-based treatment is a new, promising treatment alternative.ObjectiveTo compare two treatment programmes for stress urinary incontinence (SUI) without face-to-face contact: one Internet-based and one sent by post.Patients and methodsRandomised, controlled trial conducted in Sweden 2009-2011. Computer-generated block-randomisation, allocation by independent administrator. No 'blinding'. The study included 250 community-dwelling women aged 18-70 years, with SUI ≥1 time/week. Consecutive online recruitment. The women had 3 months of either; (i) An Internet-based treatment programme (124 women), including e-mail support and cognitive behavioural therapy assignments or (ii) A treatment programme sent by post (126). Both programmes focused mainly on pelvic floor muscle training.Primary outcomessymptom-score (International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire Short Form, ICIQ-UI SF) and condition-specific quality of life (ICIQ-Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms Quality of Life, ICIQ-LUTSQoL).Secondary outcomes(i) Patient Global Impression of Improvement, (ii) Incontinence aids, (iii) Patient satisfaction, (iv) Health-specific QoL (EQ5D-Visual Analogue Scale), and (v) Incontinence episode frequency. Follow-up after 4 months via self-assessed postal questionnaires.ResultsIn all, 12% (30 women) were lost to follow-up. Intention-to-treat analysis showed highly significant improvements (P < 0.001) with large effect sizes (>0.8) with both interventions, but there were no significant differences between groups in primary outcomes. The mean (sd) changes in symptom-score were: Internet 3.4 (3.4), Postal 2.9 (3.1) (P = 0.27). The mean (sd) changes in condition-specific QoL were: Internet 4.8 (6.1), Postal 4.6 (6.7) (P = 0.52). Compared with the postal-group, more participants in the Internet-group perceived they were much or very much improved (40.9% (43/105) vs 26.5% (30/113), P = 0.01), reported reduced usage of incontinence aids (59.5% (47/79) vs 41.4% (34/82), P = 0.02) and were satisfied with the treatment programme (84.8% (89/105) vs 62.9% (71/113), P < 0.001). Health-specific QoL improved in the Internet-group (mean change 3.7 (10.9), P = 0.001), but not in the postal-group (1.9 (13.0), P = 0.13). Overall, 69.8% (120/172) of participants reported complete lack of leakage or reduced number of leakage episodes by >50%.ConclusionsConcerning primary outcomes, treatment effects were similar between groups whereas for secondary outcomes the Internet-based treatment was more effective. Internet-based treatment for SUI is a new, promising treatment alternative.