Further Enhancing Non-pharmacologic Therapy for Incontinence

August 4, 2017 updated by: Neil Resnick, University of Pittsburgh
To determine the mechanisms mediating the therapeutic efficacy of pelvic floor muscle exercises and biofeedback for urge urinary incontinence, as well as the characteristics of patients most likely to respond. By identifying the key components of this treatment, we hope to simplify it and make it more easily applicable, more effective, less expensive, and thus more useful for people with urge incontinence in the future.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Urinary incontinence (UI) is prevalent and morbid in the elderly, and its associated costs exceed $26 billion annually. Although effective therapy exists, it is underutilized. This is particularly true for non-pharmacologic therapies, which are at least as effective as drugs but safer, and recommended as the initial approach by every national panel. If therapies such as biofeedback (which targets pelvic muscles and detrusor suppression) are to become more widely used, they will require simplification, fewer and briefer sessions, less expensive equipment, and less sophisticated therapists. Unfortunately, such protocols cannot yet be devised because it is unknown which components are essential. We postulate that the mechanisms mediating effectiveness can be identified and that such knowledge will make it possible to enhance efficacy and to formulate more feasible and cost-effective protocols. Since reduction in UI correlates weakly with improved quality of life, however, it is important that biofeedback's impact on life quality be assessed concomitantly to ensure that formulation of such streamlined methods does not eliminate components essential for improved quality of life, even if they have no physiological correlates. We will address these issues by treating at least 150 elderly subjects with urge UI in an 8-week course of biofeedback. We will collect clinical and quality of life data and perform extensive physiologic testing on each subject at baseline and 8 weeks later. Improvement will be correlated with change in physiologic and quality of life parameters to identify the parameters that likely mediated it. Knowledge from this study should identify predictors and mechanisms mediating success of biofeedback; suggest ways that it could be further improved; facilitate development of less expensive, quicker, and more feasible protocols to deliver it (potentially permitting application to less motivated or cognitively impaired patients); and shed insight into mechanisms that may even improve efficacy of other interventions.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

123

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

  • United States
    • Pennsylvania
      • Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, 15213
        • Geriatric Continence Research Unit, NE547 Montefiore UPMC

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

60 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

Female

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • ambulatory women over age 60, who are incontinent at least twice weekly for 3 months despite correction of potentially reversible causes.
  • urinary incontinence (urge or predominantly urge) by clinical criteria.
  • able to accurately complete a voiding diary, to perform a 24-hour pad test under direction, and to undergo instruction in biofeedback.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • significant mental impairment [mini mental status exam (MMSE) ≤ 20)
  • urethral obstruction
  • history of bladder cancer
  • spinal cord lesions
  • multiple sclerosis
  • pelvic radiation
  • interstitial cystitis
  • artificial sphincter implant
  • expected to have changes in medications/doses during the trial
  • medically unstable
  • Patients with factors that could cause transient UI [e.g., current urinary tract infection (UTI), acute confusion] will be treated in concert with the subject's primary care provider and considered for enrollment if their UI persists.
  • conditions that require endocarditis prophylaxis (such as heart valve problems or bacterial endocarditis)
  • being unable to undergo fMRI because of claustrophobia or any metallic objects in the body, such pacemakers, metallic prostheses, aneurism clips or others.

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: N/A
  • Interventional Model: Single Group Assignment
  • Masking: None (Open Label)

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Biofeedback
Biofeedback assisted pelvic floor muscle therapy (3 visits)
Behavioral: Biofeedback, pelvic floor muscle training, fMRI
Biofeedback, pelvic floor muscle training, fMRI

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Percentage reduction in urge incontinence episodes at 12 weeks
Time Frame: 12 weeks
12 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Time Frame
Various urodynamic parameters such as, e.g.:
Time Frame: 12 weeks
12 weeks
Increase in functional bladder capacity at 12 weeks
Time Frame: 12 weeks
12 weeks
Volume at first detrusor overactivity at 12 weeks
Time Frame: 12 weeks
12 weeks
Improvement in QoL at 12 weeks
Time Frame: 12 weeks
12 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

University of Pittsburgh

Collaborators

National Institutes of Health (NIH)
National Institute on Aging (NIA)

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Neil M Resnick, MD, University of Pittsburgh
  • Study Director: Becky Clarkson, PhD, University of Pittsburgh

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.

General Publications

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

February 1, 2004

Primary Completion (Actual)

September 1, 2016

Study Completion (Actual)

September 1, 2016

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

September 13, 2005

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

September 13, 2005

First Posted (Estimate)

September 15, 2005

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

August 8, 2017

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 4, 2017

Last Verified

August 1, 2017

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • 5R01AG020629-02 (U.S. NIH Grant/Contract)

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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