Pelvic floor muscle exercises beneficial in postprostatectomy urinary incontinence

Pelvic floor muscle exercises appear to exert favourable effects on urinary incontinence in men who have undergone prostate cancer surgery, according to a study.

Researchers performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of studies that examined the effect of pelvic floor muscle exercise for post-prostatectomy urinary incontinence. They accessed multiple online databases and identified 21 studies that met the selection criteria for quantitative synthesis.

Of the studies, eight reported on the effects of pelvic floor muscle exercise while 13 provided data on the effects of assistant interventions added to pelvic floor muscle exercises. These were included in a meta-analysis that was performed separately using the number of patients achieving urinary continence as binary data, as well as the patients’ International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire—short form (ICIQ-SF) scores as continuous data.

Pooled data showed that compared with no exercise, performing pelvic floor muscle exercises was associated with about threefold greater odds of achieving overall urinary incontinence recovery (odds ratio [OR], 2.971, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 1.278–6.907). The overall ICIQ-SF score in the meta-analysis for pelvic floor muscle exercises vs no exercise was –1.012 (95 percent CI, –2.379 to 0.355).

Meanwhile, the OR for overall urinary incontinence recovery associated with assistant interventions added to pelvic floor muscle exercises vs the exercises alone was 2.128 (95 percent CI, 1.357–3.336).

Additional studies with higher quality are needed to confirm the real efficacy of pelvic floor muscle exercises.