Interventions to decrease pain and anxiety in patients undergoing urodynamic study: Is there any clear evidence? A...

Area of Science:

• Urology
• Medical Interventions
• Patient Comfort

Background:

• Urodynamic study (UDS) is crucial for diagnosing lower urinary tract symptoms.
• The invasive nature of UDS often causes patient pain and anxiety.
• Effective strategies to mitigate patient discomfort during UDS are needed.

Purpose of the Study:

• To systematically review and meta-analyze interventions aimed at reducing pain and anxiety during UDS.
• To evaluate the efficacy of various methods for improving patient experience during urodynamic procedures.

Main Methods:

• Comprehensive literature search across major databases (PubMed, ScienceDirect, EMBASE, EBSCO) up to October 2024.
• Inclusion of 22 studies (RCTs and observational studies) with risk of bias assessment.
• Meta-analysis performed using Review Manager 5.3 to pool effect sizes.

Main Results:

• Providing detailed information to patients significantly reduced pain (SMD: 0.84).
• Music therapy and anesthetic agents showed no significant pain reduction.
• A modest but significant reduction in anxiety was observed (SMD: 0.57), with high heterogeneity.
• Other interventions like mindfulness and aromatherapy showed potential in individual studies but lacked sufficient data for meta-analysis.

Conclusions:

• Pre-procedure patient education is an effective strategy for reducing pain during UDS.
• Current evidence for other interventions to reduce pain and anxiety during UDS is inconsistent.
• Further large-scale, well-designed trials are required to establish standardized methods for enhancing patient comfort during UDS.