BACKGROUND: Bladder training (BT), the maintenance of a scheduled voiding regime at gradually adjusted intervals, is a common treatment for overactive bladder (OAB). OBJECTIVES: To assess the effects of isolated BT and/or in combination with other therapies on OAB symptoms. METHODS: A systematic review of eight databases was conducted. After screening titles and abstracts, full texts were retrieved. Cochrane RoB 2 and the GRADE approach were used. RESULTS: Fourteen RCTs were included: they studied isolated BT (n = 11), BT plus drug treatment (DT; n = 5), BT plus intravaginal electrical stimulation (IVES; n = 2), BT plus biofeedback and IVES (n = 1), BT plus pelvic floor muscle training and behavioral therapy (n = 2), BT plus percutaneous tibial nerve stimulation, and BT plus transcutaneous tibial nerve stimulation (n = 1). In a meta-analysis of short-term follow-up data, BT plus IVES resulted in greater improvement in nocturia (mean difference (MD) 0.89, 95% CI 0.5 to 1.20), urinary incontinence (UI; MD 1.93, 95% CI 1.32 to 2.55), and quality of life (QoL; MD 4.87, 95% CI 2.24 to 7.50) than isolated BT, while DT and BT improved UI (MD 0.58, 95% CI 0.23 to 0.92) more than isolated BT. CONCLUSION: In the short term, BT plus IVES improves the OAB symptoms of nocturia and UI while improving QoL. The limited number of RCTs and heterogeneity among them provide a low level of evidence, making the effect of BT on OAB inconclusive, which suggests that new RCTs should be performed.

Full text (sometimes free) may be available at these link(s):      help

• PubMed Central
• DOI
• PubMed
• PDF locator
• publisher