Group behavioral therapy used to treat urinary incontinence in women over 55

This study aimed to investigate the use of group behavioral therapy (GBT) to treat urinary incontinence (UI) in women. This study found that GBT is a promising treatment option for UI. 

Urinary incontinence (UI) is the unintentional loss of urine. Stress urinary incontinence (SUI) happens when physical movement or activity — such as coughing, sneezing, running or heavy lifting — puts pressure (stress) on the bladder. This can be more common in menopausal women or in women who have given birth. Another type of UI is urgency incontinence. This occurs when the bladder contracts when it should not, causing some urine to leak.

Behavioral interventions such as bladder training are usually the first treatment options because they are inexpensive and easy to implement. It is not known if a one-time group behavioral therapy (GBT) is effective in the treatment of UI. 

This study included 463 women with UI. 232 had GBT and 231 did not have any treatment (control group). GBT involved a 2-hour bladder health class, written materials, and an audio CD. Patients were followed up at in-clinic visits at 3 and 12 months and by mail or telephone at 6 and 9 months.

GBT was associated with a slight decrease in severity, frequency and bother of UI at three months and at 12 months. 35.3% of patients in the GBT group reported a 70% reduction in UI episodes as compared to 22.1% in the control group.

GBT was associated with lower costs compared to the control group.

This study found that GBT is a promising first-line approach to noninvasive behavioral treatment for older women with UI.

The results of this study showed a moderate improvement in symptoms. This study aimed to show a bigger benefit in GBT and thus, more work needs to be done in this area. Also, the results were based on patient-reported data, which is not the best type of evidence.