Purpose: We conducted this review to summarize the short-term and long-term efficacy of several midurethral sling procedures on quality of life (QoL) improvement based on incontinence-specific QoL measures in clinical trials among women with stress urinary incontinence (SUI).
Methods: We searched MEDLINE (January 1966 to March 2015), EMBASE (January 1988 to March 2015), and the Cochrane Incontinence Group Specialised Register (March 2015). Only randomized controlled trials (RCTs) were eligible in this analysis.
Results: We identified 13 different condition-specific instruments in the included 31 RCTs; the Urogenital Distress Inventory (UDI), the Incontinence Impact Questionnaire (IIQ), and Pelvic Organ Prolapse/Incontinence Sexual Function Questionnaire-12 (PISQ-12) were the most frequently used methods to measure QoL among women with SUI. We found that the improvement in sexual function (as assessed by PISQ-12) score was significantly higher in the single-incision slings group than in the TO-TVT group (WMD 1.06; 95 % CI 0.58-1.54); the post-operative pain visual analogue scale scores in the single-incision slings group was significantly lower than that in the TO-TVT group (WMD -1.59; 95 % CI -2.28 to -0.89). TO-TVT-treated patients had significantly greater reductions in total UDI scores (WMD 2.28; 95 % CI 1.77-2.80) and total IIQ scores (WMD 0.89; 95 % CI 0.26-1.52) than TVT-treated patients. The reduction in the total UDI score was significantly higher in the RP-TVT group than in the TO-TVT group (WMD -1.00; 95 % CI -1.65 to -0.35). Subgroup analysis of the total UDI score showed a significantly greater improvement in TO-TVT-treated patients than in TVT after long-term follow-up (>30 months), but no differences were detected after short-term follow-up (12-15 or 6 months).
Conclusions: Our meta-analysis indicated that consistent use of the UDI and IIQ with or without the PISQ-12 might promote options for comparisons between trials. Single-incision slings were associated with significantly higher improvement in sexual function and lower post-operative pain compared with standard midurethral slings, and the long-term efficacy of TO-TVT was superior to the TVT procedure in terms of reducing the distress caused by incontinence symptoms.