Abstract
Introduction and hypothesis
Few randomized controlled trials have compared electrical stimulation treatment with drug therapy. Our hypothesis was that electrical stimulation treatment in women with urgency/urge incontinence would be more efficient compared to drug treatment.
Methods
Women ≥18 years of age with urgency/urge incontinence were randomized to receive either ten electrical stimulation treatments vaginally and transanally over a period of 5–7 weeks or tolterodine 4 mg orally once daily.
Results
Sixty-one women completed the study. There was no significant difference between the two treatment groups in micturition rate from baseline to 6 months, mean difference, −0.40 (95% confidence interval (CI), −1.61 to 0.82), but a clearly significant difference within each group for electrical stimulation, −2.8 (95% CI, −3.7 to −1.9), and for tolterodine, −3.2 (95% CI, −4.1 to −2.4).
Conclusions
Both treatments reduced the number of micturitions, but electrical stimulation was not found to be superior to tolterodine.
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Acknowledgments
We gratefully acknowledge the help of statistician Anna-Maria Kling at Örebro University Hospital for help with the statistical analysis and the help of specialized nurse (Urotherapist) Vibeke Jonsson for collecting part of the data.
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Franzén, K., Johansson, JE., Lauridsen, I. et al. Electrical stimulation compared with tolterodine for treatment of urge/urge incontinence amongst women—a randomized controlled trial. Int Urogynecol J 21, 1517–1524 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00192-010-1213-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00192-010-1213-2