The Effect Of Combined Electrical Stimulation And Nursing Interventions For Female Stress Urinary Incontinence

Objectives: To compare the effectiveness of the combined electrical stimulation and nursing interventions with electrical stimulation for female stress urinary incontinence. Methods: Forty-eight patients with stress urinary incontinence were allocated to intervention group (n=24) or control group (n=24). The control group was given electrical stimulation, using frequencies varying from 50 to 100Hz. The electrical stimulation was given for 20 minutes twice per week for 12 weeks. The intervention group was given 12-week electrical stimulation and nursing interventions. The nursing interventions involved urinary incontinence leaflet, self-monitoring, patient group meeting, pelvic floor muscle (PFM) exercises and telephone follow-up. The outcome indicators were 1-hour pad test urine loss, pelvic floor muscle (PFM) strength, the grade of subjective urinary incontinence, quality of life (I-QOL), sexual quality of life (PISQ) and pelvic floor muscle exercises' compliance. Outcome indicators were measured at the 8th weeks and the 12th weeks after the treatment.Results: Thirty-nine women completed the 12-week program. At the 8th week within the groups, there were significant improvements in 1-hour pad test urine loss, the dimensions of Avoidance, total-score of the QOL, PFM strength and the grade of subjective urinary incontinence in comparison with baseline measures, there were significant differences between two groups in 1-hour pad test urine loss, the dimensions of Avoidance, total-score of the QOL, but there were not statistically significant differences between both groups for change in PFM strength (P=0.119), the grade of subjective urinary incontinence (P=0.378) and the score of the sexual quality of life (P=0.813). At the 12th week within the two groups, there were significant improvements in 1-hour pad test urine loss, the dimensions of Avoidance, total-score of the QOL, PFM strength, the grade of subjective urinary incontinence and the total-score of the sexual quality of life in comparison with baseline measures, there were significant differences between both groups in 1 -hour pad test urine loss, PFM strength, the dimensions of Avoidance, Social Embarrassment and total-score of the QOL, but there were not statistically significant differences between both groups for change the grade of subjective urinary incontinence (P=0.054) and the total-score of the sexual quality of life (P=0.759). The compliance of PFM exercises in the intervention group was 78.95%.Conclusions: Compared with electrical stimulation, Treatment of SUI with combined electrical stimulation and nursing interventions caused significant changes in 1 -hour pad test urine loss, pelvic floor muscle (PFM) strength and the score of the QOL.