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.
Cureus. 2023 Sep 11*** epublish ***
Nicole S Parra, Arturo P Jaramillo, Jhon Zambrano, Diego Segovia, Javier Castells, Jhoanny C Revilla
Internal Medicine, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador, Quito, ECU., General Practice, Universidad Estatal de Guayaquil, Machala, ECU., Emergency, Universidad Tech, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, ESP., Medicine, Universidad Católica de Santiago de Guayaquil, Guayaquil, ECU., Medicine, Universidad del Zulia, Maracaibo, VEN.