Comparison of Posterior Tibial Nerve Electrical Stimulation Protocols for Overactive Bladder Syndrome

NCT ID: NCT01912885

Last Updated: 2019-02-15

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 145 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2013-10-09
• Study Completion Date: 2014-09-25

Brief Summary

INTRODUCTION: Overactive bladder syndrome is defined by The International Continence Society as urgency, with or without incontinence, usually with increased urinary frequency and nocturia. It is difficult to estimate the prevalence of this syndrome because many patients do not seek medical help, despite considerable negative impact on quality of life. Lower urinary tract dysfunctions can be treated using electrical stimulation of the posterior tibial nerve. This therapy is conservative, effective, inexpensive and promotes high adhesion to treatment. It has good results, decreasing symptoms of urgency, urge-incontinence, urinary frequency and nocturia . Due to lack of consensus on the parameters of this technique, further research is necessary. OBJECTIVE: To compare the effectiveness of protocols for the electrical stimulation of the posterior tibial nerve for treatment of non-neurogenic overactive bladder. METHODS: The study was a blind randomized clinical trial. The study will accept up to 145 women with overactive bladder diagnosis for at least six months prior to the beginning of the study. The subjects will be divided into five groups: group TENS 0-1 (placebo group), group TENS 1-1 (electrical stimulation of one leg once a week), group TENS 1-2 (electrical stimulation of one leg twice a week), group TENS 2-1 (electrical stimulation of two legs one a week) and group TENS 2-2 (electrical stimulation of two legs twice a week). Physical evaluation will be done at the beginning and at the end of the treatment. Evaluation will be done using the King "s Health Questionnaire, the International Consultation Incontinence Questionnaire - Short Form, the Overactive Bladder Questionnaire, a three day urinary diary and a table for follow-up treatment.

Detailed Description

Participants will be recruited from Urogynecology Physical Therapy Outpatient Clinic of a university hospital and randomly assigned using website www.randomization.com and distributed into five groups considering the sites of application and frequency of attendanc, listed above.

Data will be collected by the investigator using interview and physical examination and will be safely stored in computer.

For this study, in terms of urinary frequency, the standard deviation was estimated at 3.25 episodes of urinary urgency (SD=3.25). With 80% power and 95% confidence, the sample size calculation was 25 women in each group, plus a possible sample loss of around 20%, resulting in a sample size of 29 women per group, for a total of 145 patients in the study.

The chi-square test was used to assess whether there was an association between sample description variables and treatments. The analysis of variance F-test was used to assess whether there were differences in the numerical descriptive variables between treatment groups. The nonparametric Kruskal-Wallis test was used to compare treatments in terms of the difference between before and after for each quality of life and voiding diary variables. If there was statistical significance, the Dunn multiple comparison test was performed, with p-values of less than 0.05 considered significant. The analysis of variance model with repeated measures was used to compare data from the specific voiding diary according to the treatment groups and sessions. Significant comparisons were evaluated with Tukey post-hoc test. To approximate data to the normality, a 1/log (variable+1) transformation was done. For the follow up analysis, it was used the ANOVA three ways, with Holm Sidak post-hoc test for comparison of scores. All the statistical tests developed were based on a significance of 5%, i.e., the null hypothesis was rejected when the p-value was less than 0.05.

Conditions

Overactive Bladder Syndrome

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Primary Study Purpose: TREATMENT
• Blinding Strategy: TRIPLE

Study Groups

Group TENS 0-1

Electrodes will be fixated to one leg and sessions will be held once a week.

Group Type: PLACEBO_COMPARATOR

TENS 0-1

Intervention Type: DEVICE

Placebo: application os electrodes of Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation on one leg once a week, without turning on the device.

Group TENS 1-1

Electrical stimulation of the posterior tibial nerve of one leg once a week.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

TENS 1-1

Intervention Type: DEVICE

Electrical stimulation using Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation on one leg once a week.

Group TENS 1-2

Electrical stimulation of the posterior tibial nerve of one leg twice a week.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

TENS 1-2

Intervention Type: DEVICE

Electrical stimulation using Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation on one leg twice a week.

Group TENS 2-1

Electrical stimulation of the posterior tibial nerve of two legs once a week.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

TENS 2-1

Intervention Type: DEVICE

Electrical stimulation using Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation on two legs once a week.

Group TENS 2-2

Electrical stimulation of the posterior tibial nerve of two legs twice a week.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

TENS 2-2

Intervention Type: DEVICE

Electrical stimulation using Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation on two legs twice a week.

Interventions

TENS 1-1

Electrical stimulation using Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation on one leg once a week.

Intervention Type: DEVICE

TENS 1-2

Electrical stimulation using Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation on one leg twice a week.

Intervention Type: DEVICE

TENS 2-1

Electrical stimulation using Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation on two legs once a week.

Intervention Type: DEVICE

TENS 2-2

Electrical stimulation using Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation on two legs twice a week.

Intervention Type: DEVICE

TENS 0-1

Placebo: application os electrodes of Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation on one leg once a week, without turning on the device.

Intervention Type: DEVICE

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• Women with 18 years of age or more;
• Cognitive level adequate for understanding orientations during treatment;
• Clinical diagnosis of overactive bladder syndrome for at least six months prior to the study.

Exclusion Criteria

• Pregnant women or women who wish to get pregnant;
• Neurological disease;
• Urinary infection;
• Nephrolithiasis;
• Stress urinary incontinence;
• Mixed urinary incontinence;
• Women in pharmacological treatment for overactive bladder syndrome;
• Women undergoing hormone replacement therapy in the last six months;
• Peripheral neuropathy;
• Cystocele stage two or higher.

• Minimum Eligible Age: 18 Years
• Eligible Sex: FEMALE
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Sponsors

University of Sao Paulo General Hospital

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Responsibility Role: SPONSOR

Principal Investigators

Elizabeth AG Ferreira, PhD

Role: STUDY_DIRECTOR

Faculty of Medicine, University of São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil

Locations

Gynecology Ambulatory of the General Hospital of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Sao Paulo

São Paulo, , Brazil

Countries

Brazil

References

Pierre ML, Friso B, Casarotto RA, Haddad JM, Baracat EC, Ferreira EAG. Comparison of transcutaneous electrical tibial nerve stimulation for the treatment of overactive bladder: a multi-arm randomized controlled trial with blinded assessment. Clinics (Sao Paulo). 2021 Aug 16;76:e3039. doi: 10.6061/clinics/2021/e3039. eCollection 2021.

Reference Type: DERIVED

PMID: 34406271 (View on PubMed)

Other Identifiers

MunickP

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id