Effect of electroacupuncture in pre‐ and postmenopausal women with stress urinary incontinence: A subgroup analysis of two randomised clinical trials

• Published in: International journal of clinical practice (Esher) Vol. 74; no. 12; pp. e13631 - n/a
• Main Authors: Xiong, Zhiyi, Liu, Yan, Su, Tongsheng, Liu, Zhishun
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01.12.2020
• Subjects: Acupuncture; Clinical trials; Electroacupuncture; Female; Humans; Menopause; Post-menopause; Postmenopause; Statistical analysis; Urinary incontinence; Urinary Incontinence - therapy; Urinary Incontinence, Stress - therapy; Urinary Incontinence, Urge
• DOI: 10.1111/ijcp.13631
• ISSN: 1368-5031; 1742-1241

Objective To evaluate the effect of electroacupuncture and assess the impact of menopausal status in women with stress urinary incontinence or stress‐predominant mixed urinary incontinence. Methods This study was conducted as a subgroup analysis of the data collected from two multicentre, randomised controlled trials conducted on 1004 women; 384 of these subjects were pre‐ or postmenopausal women who received the same electroacupuncture treatment for stress urinary incontinence or stress‐predominant mixed urinary incontinence. The primary outcome evaluated in this study was the proportion of subjects who had at least a 50% reduction in the mean 72‐hour incontinence episodes frequency from baseline and the difference between pre‐ and postmenopausal groups, as measured at the end of 6 weeks using the 72‐hour bladder dairy. Results Among the 384 women, 132 were premenopausal and 252 were postmenopausal. Compared with the baseline, measurement at the end of 6 weeks of treatment showed at least 50% reduction in the mean 72‐hour incontinence episodes frequency in 61.83% and 58.85% of the women in the premenopausal and postmenopausal groups, respectively (difference 1.06%, 95% confidence interval, −13.87 to 15.99; P = .889). No statistically significant intergroup differences were noted in the changes from baseline in the International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire‐Short Form score and the 1‐hour amount of urine leakage. Electroacupuncture‐related adverse events occurred in 1.52% of the premenopausal and 1.59% of the postmenopausal women. Conclusion This subgroup analysis indicated that electroacupuncture can improve the symptoms of urinary incontinence in women with stress urinary incontinence or stress‐predominant mixed urinary incontinence and that menopausal status may not affect the effects of electroacupuncture in subjects.