In Other Journals

Adding behavioural training to pharmaceutical treatments may have some beneficial effects for women who suffer from urge urinary incontinence, but long-term benefits are questionable, say US researchers. In a multicentre, randomised clinical trial, 307 women with urge incontinence were randomly assigned to receive muscarinic drug therapy alone or combined with behavioural training for 10 weeks. In a second stage of the trial, medication was ceased in both groups. Although a higher proportion of the combined group reported a greater reduction in incontinence at 10 weeks, the rate of successful discontinuation of therapy at 8 months was the same in both groups. Despite the lack of apparent longer-term benefit, patients on combination therapy reported higher satisfaction with treatment and a greater perceived improvement.