Outpatient biofeedback in addition to home pelvic floor muscle training for stress urinary incontinence: a randomized controlled trial.
OBJECTIVE
To test if biofeedback (BF) added to pelvic floor muscle training (PFMT) increases the frequency of home exercises performed by women with stress urinary incontinence (SUI).


METHODS
72 incontinent women were randomized to BF (outpatient BF + home PFMT) or PFMT (outpatient PFMT + home PFMT) groups.


METHODS
baseline, after 3 months of supervised treatment, at 9-month follow-up (after six additional months of home PFMT only).


METHODS
frequency of monthly exercises sets performed (exercise diary) after 3-month treatment.


RESULTS
adherence, urinary symptoms, severity and cure of SUI (pad test <2 g leakage), muscle function, quality of life, and subject cure (satisfaction report with no desire for different treatment) at the two time-points.


METHODS
ANOVA and Student's t-test with 5% cut-off for significance.


RESULTS
It was observed similar frequency of monthly home exercises sets performed by BF (67.9 out of 82) and PFMT (68.2 out of 82) groups at 3 months. Secondarily, equal satisfaction, but superior objective cure of SUI for BF group after 3-month treatment (P = 0.018; OR: 3.15 [95% CI: 1.20-8.25]). At 9-month follow-up, the adherence to home exercises was similar (around 50%) and significantly dropped in both groups compared to the 3-month results (around 85%). No difference was detected in the objective and subjective cure of SUI between the groups after 9 months. Both therapies similarly improved the muscle function and quality of life during the study (P < 0.005).


CONCLUSIONS
Adjunct BF did not increase the frequency of home exercises performed by SUI patients.
Department of Gynaecology, Federal University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
Fátima Faní
FF
Fitz
Department of Gynaecology, Federal University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
Liliana
L
Stüpp
Department of Gynaecology, Federal University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
Thaís Fonseca
TF
da Costa
Department of Gynaecology, Federal University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
Maria Augusta Tezelli
MAT
Bortolini
Department of Gynaecology, Federal University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
Manoel João Batista Castello
MJBC
Girão
Department of Gynaecology, Federal University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
Rodrigo Aquino
RA
Castro
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001676:Biofeedback, Psychology / Q000379:methods*; D005081:Exercise Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D010045:Outpatients; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D017773:Pelvic Floor / Q000503:physiopathology*; D011788:Quality of Life; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014550:Urinary Incontinence, Stress / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy*
exercise; patient compliance; pelvic floor; physical therapy modalities; stress; urinary incontinence