Efficacy of Electroacupuncture (EA) for Women With Pure Stress Urinary Incontinence (SUI)

A Pilot Randomized Placebo Controlled Trial of Electroacupuncture for Women With Pure Stress Urinary Incontinence

The purpose of this study is to preliminarily assess the efficacy of electroacupuncture (EA) for women with pure stress urinary incontinence (SUI).

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

This was a pilot randomized, placebo controlled trial to preliminarily assess the efficacy of EA for women with pure SUI. Eligible participants were randomly assigned to EA group or sham EA group in a 1:1 ratio via a central randomization system by acupuncturists. Participants, outcome assessors and statisticians were blinded to treatment allocation. Subject blinding is achieved via the aid of adhesive pads used in both groups, placebo needle with a blunt tip and sham EA electrode lines. Assuming a two-sided alpha of 0.05, power of 90%, and a 20% drop-out, a sample size of 36 would be needed for each group. The investigators expanded the sample size to 80 cases (40 cases per group) to increase the reliability of the study. The investigators performed statistical analysis based on the intention-to-treat principle. All patients accepting randomization were included in the analysis. Missing data were filled in by the last observed value. Student t tests or Mann-Whitney U tests were used for the comparison of continuous variables; chi-square tests, Fisher's exact tests or Kruskal-Wallis H tests were used to compare categorical variables, as appropriate. For measures collected at two time points, paired t-tests or Wilcoxon signed rank tests were used as appropriate. A statistically significant difference was set at P<0.05.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

80

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

    • Beijing
      • Beijing, Beijing, China, 100053
        • Guang'anmen Hospital of China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

40 years to 75 years (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

Female

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Eligible women were 40 to 75 years of age, and met the clinical diagnosis recommendations of SUI by the International Consultation on Urological Diseases:

    • involuntary urine leakage on effort, exertion, sneezing or coughing which stopped when the stress ends;
    • visible involuntary leakage from the urethra synchronous with increased abdominal pressure, or a pad weight gain >1 g in 1-hour pad test;
    • without symptoms of urinary frequency and urgency.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Women were excluded from the study if they met any of the following criteria: *other type of urinary incontinence (UI) (urge, mixed, or overflow UI, etc);

    • symptomatic urinary tract infection;
    • ever received UI or pelvic surgery;
    • a severity of pelvic organ prolapse ≥ degree 2;
    • residual urinary volume >30 ml;
    • maximum flow rate ≤ 20 ml/s;
    • limited in walking, stairs climbing and running;
    • receiving specialized treatment for SUI, or taking medicine affecting bladder function;
    • serious cardiovascular, cerebral, liver, kidney, or psychiatric disease, diabetes, multiple system atrophy, injury of cauda equina, or myeleterosis;
    • being pregnant or breastfeeding;
    • with cardiac pacemaker, metal allergy or severe needle phobia;
    • unlike to give written formed consent.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Double

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: EA group
When acupuncturing, adhesive pads were first pasted on acupoints after sterilization in either group. In EA group, participants were needled at bilateral BL33 at an angle of 30 to 45 degree inward and downward, and at bilateral BL35 slightly toward upside and outside, to a depth of 50 to 60 mm using acupuncture needles of size 0.30×75 mm. Needles were then lifted, thrusted and twirled evenly for 3 times. Paired electrodes of EA apparatus were attached transversely to bilateral BL33 and BL35 (using real electrodes) respectively, with a continuous wave of 50 Hz and a current intensity of 1-5 milliampere (mA) for 30 min. Participants were treated with EA 3 sessions a week on alternate days for 6 successive weeks.
Placebo Comparator: Sham EA group
When acupuncturing, adhesive pads were first pasted on acupoints after sterilization in either group. In sham EA group, participants were needled at sham BL33 and sham BL35, which were about 20 mm lateral to BL33 and BL35, respectively, with blunt needle tips piercing adhesive pads and not piercing the surface of the skin, using placebo needles of size 0.30×25 mm. Needles were then lifted, thrusted and twirled evenly for 3 times. Paired electrodes of EA apparatus were attached transversely to bilateral sham BL33 and sham BL35 (using sham electrodes) respectively. The parameters of sham EA apparatus and the treatment course were the same as in the EA group.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Change From Baseline of Urine Leakage Measured by 1-hour Pad Test
Time Frame: Baseline and week 6
Baseline and week 6

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Change From Baseline of the 72-hour Incontinence Episode Frequency (IEF)
Time Frame: Baseline, weeks 1-6, weeks 15-18 and weeks 27-30

Data of IEF was from 72-hour bladder diary recorded by participants over the last 72 hours of weeks 0 (baseline), weeks 2, 4, 6 (treatment period) and weeks 15-18,and 27-30 (follow-up period).

The 72-hour IEF of weeks 1-6 equaled the sum of 72h IEF at weeks 2, 4 and 6 divided by 3; The 72-hour IEF of weeks 15-18 equaled the sum of 72h IEF at weeks 15-18 divided by 4; The 72-hour IEF of weeks 27-30 equaled the sum of 72h IEF at weeks 27-30 divided by 4.

Baseline, weeks 1-6, weeks 15-18 and weeks 27-30
Change From Baseline of the Total ICIQ-SF Scores
Time Frame: Baseline, and weeks 6, 18 and 30
The International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire-Short Form (ICIQ-SF) was a brief and robust measure for evaluating the symptoms and impact of urinary incontinence.It was used to assess the influence of urinary incontinence on quality of life during the past 4 weeks retrospectively. It contained three items on frequency, amount of leakage, and overall impact on quality of life, and a fourth, non-scored item for the assessment of type of incontinence. A total score was summed by the scores of the first three items, ranging from 0 to 21. A higher value indicates increased severity.
Baseline, and weeks 6, 18 and 30
Patient Self-evaluation of Therapeutic Effect
Time Frame: weeks 6, 18 and 30

Participants were asked to rate the extent of help that they received from treatment as no help, little help. moderate help or great help.

Number of participants reporting different extent of help was collected.

weeks 6, 18 and 30

Other Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Adverse Events
Time Frame: weeks 1-30
Number of participants who experienced Adverse Events was collected.
weeks 1-30

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Zhishun Liu, Doctor, Guang'anmen Hospital of China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start

December 1, 2012

Primary Completion (Actual)

July 1, 2014

Study Completion (Actual)

July 1, 2014

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

May 13, 2015

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 14, 2015

First Posted (Estimate)

May 15, 2015

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

June 15, 2015

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 29, 2015

Last Verified

May 1, 2015

More Information

Terms related to this study

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 2012BAI24B01-021

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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