Impact of pelvic floor muscle training on sexual function in women affected by stress urinary incontinence.

Background: Pelvic floor muscle training can effectively improve pelvic floor muscle strength and activities; however, its impact on sexual function in women with stress urinary incontinence remains unclear.

Aim: The study sought to investigate the impact of pelvic floor muscle training on pelvic floor muscle and sexual function in women with stress urinary incontinence.

Methods: This was a retrospective observational study involving women who visited a urogynecologic clinic at a tertiary medical center. Patients with stress urinary incontinence without pelvic organ prolapse underwent pelvic floor muscle training programs that included biofeedback and intravaginal electrostimulation. Other evaluations included pelvic floor manometry, electromyography, and quality-of-life questionnaires, including the short forms of the Pelvic Organ Prolapse/Urinary Incontinence Sexual Questionnaire, Urogenital Distress Inventory, and Incontinence Impact Questionnaire.

Outcomes: Clinical characteristics, vaginal squeezing and resting pressure, maximal pelvic floor contraction, duration of sustained contraction, quality-of-life scores, and sexual function were compared between baseline and after the pelvic floor muscle training programs.

Results: There were 61 women included in the study. The mean number of treatment sessions was 12.9 ± 6.3, and the mean treatment duration was 66.7 ± 32.1 days. The short forms of the Urogenital Distress Inventory (7.7 ± 3.8 vs 1.8 ± 2.1; P < .001) and Incontinence Impact Questionnaire (5.9 ± 4.3 vs 1.8 ± 2.0; P < .001) scores significantly improved after the pelvic floor muscle training program. In addition, all pelvic floor muscle activities significantly improved, including maximal vaginal squeezing pressure (58.7 ± 20.1 cmH₂O vs 66.0 ± 24.7 cmH₂O; P = .022), difference in vaginal resting and maximal squeezing pressure (25.3 ± 14.6 cmH₂O vs 35.5 ± 16.0 cmH₂O; P < .001), maximal pelvic muscle voluntary contraction (24.9 ± 13.8 μV vs 44.5 ± 18.9 μV; P < .001), and duration of contraction (6.2 ± 5.7 s vs 24.9 ± 14.6 s; P < .001). Nevertheless, the short form of the Pelvic Organ Prolapse/Urinary Incontinence Sexual Questionnaire score demonstrated no significant improvement (28.8 ± 9.7 vs 29.2 ± 12.3; P = .752).

Clinical implications: Pelvic floor muscle training programs may not improve sexual function in women with stress urinary incontinence.

Strengths and limitations: The strength of this study is that we evaluated sexual function with validated questionnaires. The small sample size and lack of long-term data are the major limitations.

Conclusion: Pelvic floor muscle training can improve pelvic floor muscle activities and effectively treat stress urinary incontinence; however, it may not improve sexual function.