AIM: To determine the effectiveness of short-term and long-term electrical stimulation as treatment for motor urge incontinence in adult women, using a criteria-based systematic review, and to present an overview of protocols for this form of treatment. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A computer-aided search was carried out for randomized clinical trials (RCTs), controlled clinical trials (CCTs), and studies with a pre-experimental design published between 1966 and 2000. The methodological quality of the studies was assessed using the Maastricht-Amsterdam Consensus List. The main outcomes were the total score and the Maastricht-Amsterdam Consesnus List and matching of the methodological score to the treatment outcome of the individual studies. RESULTS: Seventeen studies were found, two RCTs, two CCTs, and 13 studies with a pre-experimental design. All studies reported positive results within the electrical stimulation groups. Only three studies, two RCTs and one CCT, were of sufficient methodological quality to enable valid conclusions to be drawn about electrical stimulation. All other studies had a moderate-to-poor methodological quality. The three studies demonstrated no statistically significant differences between the groups treated with short-term electrical stimulation and the control groups. Because of clinical heterogeneity, statistical pooling could not be realized. To date, there are no RCTs or CCTs that evaluate the effectivity of long-term electrical stimulation for motor urge incontinence in adult women. The treatment protocols reviewed had heterogeneous stimulation and treatment parameters. CONCLUSION: Most studies evaluating the effectiveness of electrical stimulation for motor urge incontinence in adult women were of poor methodological quality. In the absence of methodologically sound studies, conclusions could not be drawn about the effectivity of long-term electrical stimulation as treatment. No conclusion could be drawn about the effectivity of short-term electrical stimulation as treatment because the methodologically sound studies did not detect differences between the electrical stimulation groups and the control groups.

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