No. 186-Conservative Management of Urinary Incontinence.

OBJECTIVE

To outline the evidence for conservative management options for treating urinary incontinence.

OPTIONS: Conservative management options for treating urinary incontinence include behavioural changes, lifestyle modification, pelvic floor retraining, and use of mechanical devices.

OUTCOMES: To provide understanding of current available evidence concerning efficacy of conservative alternatives for managing urinary incontinence; to empower women to choose continence therapies that have benefit and that have minimal or no harm.

EVIDENCE: The Cochrane Library and Medline (1966 to 2005) were searched to find articles related to conservative management of incontinence. Review articles were appraised.

VALUES: The quality of evidence is rated, and recommendations are made using the criteria described by the Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care.

BENEFITS, HARMS, COSTS: Evidence for the efficacy of conservative management options for urinary incontinence is strong. These options can be advocated as primary interventions with minimal or no harm to women.