The Efficacy and Safety of Acupuncture in Treating Stress Urinary Incontinence in Women from a Meta-Analysis of Four Randomized Controlled Trials

Purpose: To verify the efficacy and safety of acupuncture in treating stress urinary incontinence (SUI) in women in a single treatment cycle lasting at least 6 weeks.Methods: A preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA) summary was followed correctly. Through the use of EMBASE, Cochrane Library databases, and PubMed (until July 2021), we looked for randomized controlled trials. In addition, the included articles' original references were looked up as well.Results: Totally, we analyzed four studies including 690 patients. Compared with the sham acupuncture group, this analysis verified that acupuncture was critically better result in decreasing mean urine leakage (p = 0.04), 1-hour pad test (p = 0.04), 72-hour incontinence episodes (p < 0.00001), International Consultation on Incontinence Questionnaire-Short Form scores (p = 0.0005) and improving patient self-evaluation (All p < 0.05). However, two groups had no statistical significance in improving pelvic floor muscle strength. In the matter of safety, mainly adverse events, especially with respect to pain, both groups showed no statistical difference.Conclusions: Acupuncture is more beneficial to patients with stress urinary incontinence in women with no critical difference in the incidence of advent events than sham acupuncture.