Efficacy of bladder training in adults with overactive bladder: A systematic review protocol

Abstract Introduction The aim of this systematic review will be to investigate and update whether bladder training can promote improvement of symptoms of overactive bladder syndrome with or without urgency urinary incontinence in adults. Methods We will perform a systematic review according to the Cochrane methodology of randomized controlled trials. An overall search strategy will be developed and adapted for each database. A bibliographic search will be conducted in eight databases - PubMed, PEDro, SciELO, LILACS, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, EMBASE, CINAHL, by manual searching. The MeSH terms will be “Bladder Training”, “Bladder Drill”, “Bladder Re-education”, “Bladder Retraining”, “Bladder Discipline”, “Overactive Bladder”, “Bladder, Overactive”, “Overactive Urinary Bladder”, “Urinary Bladder”, “Overactive, Urinary Bladder”, “Bladder, Urinary”, “Urinary Bladder Disease”, “Bladder Disease”, “Bladder Detrusor Muscle” and “Detrusor Muscle, Bladder”. Meta-analysis, if plausible, will be performed by the software Review Manager 5.4. Primary outcomes : symptoms of overactive bladder syndrome (urinary urgency with daytime voiding frequency, nocturia with or without urgency urinary incontinence), and cure/improvement assessed by instruments. Secondary outcomes : quality of life, functional assessment, validated scale/questionnaire and adverse events. Quality assessment will be performed by Cochrane instrument and quality of evidence will be assessed by GRADE. Discussion This study is a review of randomized controlled studies to analyze the efficacy of bladder training in improving the symptoms of adults with overactive bladder syndrome. The study design of randomized controlled trials for a higher level of scientific evidence was chosen. The aim is to obtain results that allow further studies and evidence that this intervention generates beneficial effects in the sample studied. Trial registration Systematic review registration PROSPERO CRD42022301522.