[Low capacity bladder: dugs and/or toilet training]

Abstract

Background: Behavioral interventions are part of the standard therapy for the overactive bladder syndrome although its impact still is unclear.

Methods: A systematic review according to the key words "overactive bladder" and "behavioral therapy" was undertaken. Original studies dealing with adults and with an English abstract were taken into consideration.

Results: Due to these requirements, only 6 studies were found. They use behavioral interventions as single therapy or compare a behavioral intervention with a standard drug therapy. On the one hand this was a direct comparison to a therapy with antimuscarinics, on the other hand drug therapy was augmented by behavioral interventions if the primary therapy failed. Inclusion criteria, patient characteristics, methods of behavioral intervention, the kind of media used and the results were inconsistent. As a result behavioral interventions are considered to be effective in controlling symptoms of an overactive bladder; in some studies an additive effect to drug therapy is seen if behavioral interventions are performed as supplementary measure; other studies could not confirm such an effect.

Conclusion: Although experimental studies about micturition control in the CNS make a positive effect of behavioral interventions in overactive bladder more than likely, the literature reports on this topic remain inhomogeneous.