Rehabilitation effect of magnetic stimulation on female stress urinary incontinence: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

Background: Stress urinary incontinence (SUI) is the predominant form of urinary incontinence in women. While not life-threatening, this condition significantly affects quality of life through social embarrassment, withdrawal, and anxiety. Magnetic stimulation, a non-invasive and convenient intervention, has gained considerable attention. However, its efficacy in SUI is still controversial. Hence, its clinical value needs to be further explored through systematic reviews and meta-analyses. Objective: To clarify the efficacy of magnetic stimulation therapy for SUI in women. Search Strategy: Chinese and English studies were searched in PubMed, EMbase, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, CNKI, and Wanfang Databases up to August 2024. Selection Criteria: Randomized controlled trials of female SUI were included, focusing on urinary incontinence status, quality of life, urine pad test, urodynamics, pelvic floor muscle strength, and poor pelvic floor electromyographic signal. Data Collection and Analysis: Information, such as author, study period, study type, age, intervention measures, intervention time, intervention frequency, and outcome indicators was extracted. Review Manager 5.4 and StataSE15.0 were adopted for data analyses. Sensitivity analyses and subgroup analyses were also implemented. Main Results: In total, 17 studies with 1389 patients were included. The results demonstrated that magnetic stimulation-centered treatment significantly improved urinary incontinence, quality of life, 1-hour pad test results, maximum urethral closure pressure, and fast-twitch contraction potential difference of the pelvic floor muscles. However, the therapy did not show a statistical difference in the 24-hour pad test and pelvic floor muscle strength compared with the control measure. Conclusion: Magnetic stimulation-based therapeutic strategy can be used to improve SUI in women. However, it could not significantly improve pelvic floor muscle strength. In addition, the limited number and high heterogeneity of some research indicators may undermine the accuracy of the results. Therefore, caution is needed when translating the conclusions into clinical practice. These findings can be further corroborated through large-scale, high-quality multicenter randomized controlled trials.