Pelvic floor muscle training for urinary incontinence: a comparison of outcomes in premenopausal versus postmenopausal women.

Objectives: Previous studies examining the effectiveness of pelvic floor muscle training (PFMT) for urinary incontinence in premenopausal and postmenopausal women have shown ambiguous results. The aim of this study was to compare subjective PFMT outcome in premenopausal versus postmenopausal women.

Methods: This is a retrospective study including premenopausal and postmenopausal women after PFMT for urodynamically proven stress urinary incontinence, mixed urinary incontinence, or urgency urinary incontinence from January 2003 to December 2008, with assessment of the need of an incontinence surgery in a follow-up time of least 24 months. Patients evaluated the change of their urinary incontinence on a 4-point Likert scale (1, no improvement; 2, slightly better; 3, no relevant incontinence; 4, excellent outcome; no incontinence at all) and their goal attainment on a 3-point Likert scale (1, less than expected; 2, as expected; and 3, more than expected).

Results: Successful outcome was reported by 59% of the premenopausal patients and 70% of the postmenopausal patients (P = 0.16), the attainment of the subjective goal by 68% and 81% (P = 0.09), and the need of an incontinence operation in a follow-up of 30 to 102 months by 15% and 14% (P = 1.0), respectively. None of the outcome parameters reached significance.

Conclusions: In comparing premenopausal to postmenopausal women, we could not detect any statistically significant difference with regard to patients' satisfaction for the outcome of PFMT.