Acupuncture for overactive bladder in adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Area of Science:

• Integrative and Complementary Medicine
• Urology
• Evidence-Based Medicine

Background:

• Overactive bladder (OAB) is a common condition in adults over 40, with prevalence increasing with age.
• Global use of acupuncture for OAB is rising, but its efficacy and safety require confirmation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the effectiveness and safety of acupuncture for managing overactive bladder in adults.
• To identify commonly used acupuncture points in OAB treatment.

Main Methods:

• Systematic search of 10 electronic databases and manual search of 6 relevant journals.
• Inclusion of 7 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) involving 695 participants.
• Assessment of methodological quality using the Cochrane risk of bias tool and data analysis with RevMan v.5.3 software.

Main Results:

• Acupuncture demonstrated comparable efficacy to drugs (tolterodine tartrate/solifenacin) in reducing micturition episodes and increasing voided volume.
• No significant differences were observed between acupuncture and placebo in reducing OAB symptom scores.
• No serious adverse events were reported during the trials.

Conclusions:

• Acupuncture is comparable to pharmacological treatments and sham acupuncture in managing overactive bladder symptoms.
• Current evidence suggests acupuncture is a safe option for OAB management.
• Further high-quality research is necessary to solidify the role of acupuncture in OAB treatment.