Effects of health education on women with urinary incontinence: systematic review and meta-analysis.

INTRODUCTION AND HYPOTHESIS: The objective was to investigate the effects of health education (HE) on urinary symptoms and quality of life in women with urinary incontinence (UI).

METHODS

A systematic review and meta-analysis of trials evaluating HE for women with UI. The risk of bias was assessed using the revised Cochrane risk-of-bias tool for randomized trials.

RESULTS

The search identified 5,118 articles. Eighteen papers were considered eligible. The interventions investigated included health education (HE), combined intervention, self-management (SM), and structured training (ST). Outcomes included quality of life (QoL), UI frequency, UI severity, impression of improvement, incontinence symptoms, urine leakage, fear of leakage, urgency, and incontinence impact. Compared with the control group there was a significant improvement in the frequency, severity, and impact on the QoL for women with UI (assessed by the total score of the International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire Short Form (ICIQ SF); RR = -1.47, 95% CI [-2.07, -0.88]; two trials; low certainty of the evidence).

CONCLUSIONS

This review shows that HE seems to be beneficial in the treatment of women with UI when compared with control women (no treatment or general health care), improving the frequency, severity, and impact on QoL assessed by the ICIQ SF total score. However, the certainty of this evidence is low.