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Stress urinary incontinence is a distressing and burdensome condition affecting approximately one third of pregnant women and pelvic floor muscle training is recommended as the first-line treatment. Convenient and cost-effective regimen of pelvic floor muscle training is required to facilitate the treatment of stress urinary incontinence and improve the adherence to treatment in pregnant women. To determine the effectiveness of app-based audio guidance pelvic floor muscle training on the treatment of stress urinary incontinence in primiparas. The study was a two-arm, parallel, randomized controlled clinical trial. The study was conducted in the obstetric clinic of a tertiary maternity hospital in Hangzhou, China. A total of 108 eligible primiparas were enrolled from January to April 2018. Participants were randomly allocated (1:1) to the audio group or the control group. Primary outcomes included severity of stress urinary incontinence and adherence to pelvic floor muscle training assessed by the International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire-Urinary Incontinence Short Form and the Broome Pelvic Muscle Self-Efficacy Scale, respectively. Secondary outcomes included pelvic floor muscle strength, bladder neck mobility and sexual function measured by vaginal palpation and pelvic floor muscle surface electromyography, perineal ultrasound and Female Sexual Function Index, respectively. Data analysis followed the intention-to-treat principle. Generalized estimation equation model, t -test and chi-square test were used to examine intervention effect on primary outcomes and secondary outcomes, respectively. Participants showed significant improvement in symptom severity across the study, which was most significant at 6 weeks postpartum (β = −4.245, p < 0.001). No significant difference was found in symptom severity between groups (β = −0.344, p = 0.168). The interaction effect between intervention and time on adherence was significant. Compared with the control group, greater self-efficacy was shown in the audio group at 6 weeks (β = 4.425, p = 0.009), 3 months (β = 3.204, p < 0.001) and 6 months (β = 4.457, p < 0.001) postpartum. Participants in the audio group indicated less bladder neck descent (16.5 vs. 19.5, p = 0.020) at 6 weeks postpartum, better pelvic floor muscle strength (12.5% vs. 34.0%, p = 0.012; 4.2% vs. 18.0%, p = 0.030) and sexual function (22.2 vs. 17.3, p = 0.007) at 6 months postpartum. The app-based audio guidance pelvic floor muscle training was more effective and much easier to comply for treatment of stress urinary incontinence in primiparas than the conventional home-based pelvic floor muscle training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background Overactive bladder is more common in patients with type 2 diabetes than in those without diabetes. Many patients with diabetes adopt unhealthy toileting behaviors to empty their bladder that may contribute to the onset or worsening of overactive bladder. Objective To investigate whether an education program targeting toileting behaviors is effective for helping overactive bladder patients with type 2 diabetes in terms of adopting healthy toileting behaviors, improving bladder symptoms, and enhancing quality of life. Design The study was a parallel, pragmatic, open-label randomized trial. Settings The trial was conducted in a hospital-based endocrinology outpatient department in Jinan, China. Participants A total of 104 patients were randomly assigned to a 6-week education program or a control group. Methods Primary outcomes included toileting behaviors and bladder symptoms, including dry/wet overactive bladder and severity of urgency. Secondary outcomes were overactive bladder-specific and general quality of life. The patients were reassessed on the outcome variables at the end of the intervention and at 3 months and 6 months following the intervention. The analysis followed the intent-to-treat principle. To account for the longitudinal data with repeated measures, group comparisons for continuous outcomes were evaluated using linear mixed models. Group differences in binary outcomes were examined using mixed-effects logit models. Results Compared with the control group, the education program group showed significant changes in three unhealthy toileting behaviors: premature voiding (−0.7, p < 0.001), place preference for voiding (−0.5, p = 0.007), and delayed voiding (−0.2, p = 0.011). The program significantly relieved the bladder symptoms (−2.2, p < 0.001) and decreased the probability of having wet overactive bladder (−0.3, p < 0.001) and the severity of urgency (−0.4, p < 0.001). It also significantly improved the overactive bladder-specific quality of life by 10.8 points (p = 0.001). Regarding patients' general quality of life, the physical aspect was enhanced by 3.0 points (p = 0.049); however, no effect on the mental well-being aspect was observed. Conclusions Among overactive bladder patients with type 2 diabetes, the 6-week education program targeting toileting behaviors resulted in the adoption of healthy toileting behaviors, relief of bladder symptoms and improvement in quality of life in the 6 months following the intervention compared with routine care alone. The education program was highly successful and may represent an effective, acceptable, feasible, and safe intervention for improving bladder health and quality of life during diabetes care, given that the toileting behavioral changes were maintained during the 6-month follow-up period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]