Effectiveness of biofeedback for the treatment of stress urinary incontinence: a systematic review <b>[Abstract in English]</b>

e-ISSN: 1980-6108
ISSN-L: 1806-5562

Alessandra Paiva de Castro; Vanessa Santos Pereira; Paula Regina Mendes da Silva Serrão; Patricia Driusso

Authors

Alessandra Paiva de Castro Universidade Federal de São Carlos
Vanessa Santos Pereira Universidade Federal de São Carlos
Paula Regina Mendes da Silva Serrão Universidade Federal de São Carlos
Patricia Driusso Universidade Federal de São Carlos

Keywords:

URINARY INCONTINENCE, STRESS /therapy, PHYSICAL THERAPY MODALITIES, FEMALE, BIOFEEDBACK, PSYCHOLOGY, REVIEW.

Abstract

AIMS: The aim of this review was to systematize the scientific evidences on the use of biofeedback devices in the treatment of stress urinary incontinence in women. SOURCE OF DATA: For the selection of the publications, two researchers searched separately for randomized controlled clinical trials about the intervention in the female stress urinary incontinence using biofeedback on the data bases ISI Web of Knowlegde, PubMed/Medline, LILACS, Cochrane Collaboration, SciELO and PEDro, with the Key Words (Stress AND Incontinence AND Biofeedback). The methodological quality of the studies was assessed by Jadad scale. Eight papers were revised in full, of which seven described the use of devices with vaginal probe and one used surface electrodes. SUMMARY OF FINDINGS: In 75% of the studies, the intervention with biofeedback had better results in comparison with the other groups at least in one of the outcomes assessed. As for the methodological quality, four studies scored three points on the Jadad scale, and the others had a lower score and were considered of limited methodological quality. CONCLUSIONS: We concluded that biofeedback devices seem to be an effective option for the treatment of stress urinary incontinence. However, further studies with greater methodological rigor should be conducted addressing this topic.