BACKGROUND: Lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) have a significant impact on quality of life (QoL) in post-stroke patients. AIM: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of pelvic floor muscle training (PFMT) on QoL parameters in men with post-stroke LUTS. DESIGN: Randomized, controlled and single-blinded trial. SETTING: Outpatients, University Hospital. POPULATION: Thirty-one men, median age 68 (interquartile range 60 to 74) years, with post-stroke LUTS were included. Thirty participants completed the study. METHODS: The participants randomized to the treatment group were treated in a systematic, controlled and intensive PFMT program over 3 months (12 weekly sessions). The participants randomized to the control group did not receive specific LUTS treatment. The effect was measured on the 36-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) and the Nocturia Quality-of-Life (N-QoL) Questionnaire. RESULTS: The results on SF-36 indicated significant improvement within pre- and post-test in the domains emotional role (median 77 to 100, p = 0.03) and vitality (median 65 to 70, p = 0.03) in the treatment group, but not the control group. There were no statistically significant differences between groups at pre-test, post-test or 6-month follow-up. The results on N-QoL indicated statistically significant differences between pre- and post-test in the bother/concern domain in both groups and in sleep/energy for the control group, but not the treatment group. There were no statistically significant differences between groups. CONCLUSIONS: PFMT may improve the emotional health and vitality domains of QoL in men with mild to moderate post-stroke and LUTS; however the improvements in the treatment group were not significantly better than for the control group. PFMT did not improve nocturia-related QoL.

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