title: Cannabinoids for treating neurogenic lower urinary tract dysfunction in patients with multiple sclerosis: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
abstract: To review systematically all the available evidence on efficacy and safety of cannabinoids for treating neurogenic lower urinary tract dysfunction (NLUTD) in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS).
  
  
  
  The review was performed according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement. Studies were identified by electronic search of the Cochrane register, Embase, Medline, Scopus (last search on 11 November 2016).
  
  
  
  After screening 8 469 articles, we included two randomized controlled trials and one open-label study, in which a total of 426 patients were enrolled. Cannabinoids relevantly decreased the number of incontinence episodes in all three studies. Pooling data showed the mean difference in incontinence episodes per 24 h to be -0.35 (95% confidence interval -0.46 to -0.24). Mild adverse events were frequent (38-100%), but only two patients (0.7%) reported a serious adverse event.
  
  
  
  Preliminary data imply that cannabinoids might be an effective and safe treatment option for NLUTD in patients with MS; however, the evidence base is poor and more high-quality, well-designed and adequately powered and sampled studies are urgently needed to reach definitive conclusions.
authors.affiliation: Neuro-Urology, Spinal Cord Injury Center and Research, Balgrist University Hospital, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Nadim
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Abo Youssef
authors.affiliation: Neuro-Urology, Spinal Cord Injury Center and Research, Balgrist University Hospital, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland.|Brain Research Institute, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland.|Department of Health Sciences and Technology, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Marc P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Schneider
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Cantonal Hospital Lucerne, Lucerne, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Livio
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Mordasini
authors.affiliation: Brain Research Institute, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland.|Department of Health Sciences and Technology, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Benjamin V
authors.initials: BV
authors.lastname: Ineichen
authors.affiliation: Medignition Inc., Research Consultants, Zürich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Lucas M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Bachmann
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, Academic Hospital Pitié-Salpêtrière, Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris, Pierre et Marie Curie Medical School, Sorbonne Universités, Paris 6 University, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Emmanuel
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Chartier-Kastler
authors.affiliation: Department of Uro-Neurology, National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery and UCL Institute of Neurology, London, UK.
authors.forename: Jalesh N
authors.initials: JN
authors.lastname: Panicker
authors.affiliation: Neuro-Urology, Spinal Cord Injury Center and Research, Balgrist University Hospital, University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Thomas M
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Kessler
mesh_terms: D002186:Cannabinoids / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006801:Humans; D009103:Multiple Sclerosis / Q000150:complications* / Q000503:physiopathology; D011788:Quality of Life; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D001750:Urinary Bladder, Neurogenic / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology
chemical_list: D002186:Cannabinoids
keywords: cannabinoids; meta-analysis; multiple sclerosis; neuro-urology; neurogenic lower urinary tract dysfunction; systematic review