Pelvic muscle exercise for stress urinary incontinence in elderly women.

PURPOSE: To compare pelvic muscle exercise to pharmacologic treatment of stress urinary incontinence, the most common cause of urine leakage reported by community-living elderly women.

SUBJECTS: Convenience sample of 157 community-living women, aged 55 to 90 years, after completion of a comprehensive diagnostic evaluation.

METHODS

Eighty-two subjects were randomly assigned to the exercise protocol (with a 34% attrition rate). Pelvic muscle exercises were taught and monitored for 6 months. Phenylpropanolamine hydrochloride was given to the other group in a dose of 50 mg a day, increasing to 50 mg twice a day.

MAIN

RESULTS

Treatment outcomes (subjective improvement, self recorded frequency of wetting) were equally satisfactory in both groups. The response to exercises was as good in 5 months as in 6. It was also as good when the minimum recommended number of exercises per day was 80 as when it was 125.

CONCLUSIONS

Among those completing the protocol, pelvic exercises were beneficial in reducing stress incontinence, and the benefit was comparable to that produced by phenylpropanolamine.