[Percutaneous tibial nerve stimulation in urge urinary incontinence: A prospective study]

To assess the efficacy of percutaneous tibial nerve stimulation and its effectiveness over time in urge urinary incontinence.

We performed a longitudinal, observational, prospective study without a control group that included patients diagnosed with urge urinary incontinence who met the inclusion/exclusion criteria. Patients were treated with 12 sessions of percutaneous tibial nerve stimulation by electroacupuncture. Baseline and post-treatment data were collected from medical records. Patients were assessed by a telephone interview after the treatment. The variables studied were sociodemographic variables, time until interview, the Sandvick and ICIQ-SF questionnaires, daytime urinary frequency, night-time urinary frequency, use of absorbent material and drug treatment. A descriptive analysis of the variables was performed and patient outcomes were analysed with generalised linear mixed models by SPSS v. 25 statistics software.

A total of 32 women were included (mean age 58.69±8.96). All variables significantly improved after treatment: Sandvick by 4.38 points (95% CI: 2.68-6.08, P<.001), ICIQ-SF by 8.55 points (95% CI: 5.89-11.22, P<.001), daytime urinary frequency by 2.10 points (95% CI: 1.04-3.16, P<.001) and night-time urinary frequency by 1.31 points (95%CI: 0.58-2.04, P<.001). However, 16.34±9.72 months after treatment, these improvements diminished but without reaching baseline levels.

Percutaneous tibial nerve stimulation by electroacupuncture is effective for the treatment of urge urinary incontinence. Although its effect diminishes over time, the improvement over the baseline situation is maintained during the follow-up period.