No. 186-Conservative Management of Urinary Incontinence.

OBJECTIVE: To outline the evidence for conservative management options for treating urinary incontinence. OPTIONS: Conservative management options for treating urinary incontinence include behavioural changes, lifestyle modification, pelvic floor retraining, and use of mechanical devices. OUTCOMES: To provide understanding of current available evidence concerning efficacy of conservative alternatives for managing urinary incontinence; to empower women to choose continence therapies that have benefit and that have minimal or no harm. EVIDENCE: The Cochrane Library and Medline (1966 to 2005) were searched to find articles related to conservative management of incontinence. Review articles were appraised. VALUES: The quality of evidence is rated, and recommendations are made using the criteria described by the Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care. BENEFITS, HARMS, COSTS: Evidence for the efficacy of conservative management options for urinary incontinence is strong. These options can be advocated as primary interventions with minimal or no harm to women.