Complementary therapies in the control of male lower urinary tract symptoms: A systematic review

Abstract

Objective: to evaluate diverse scientific evidence on the effectiveness of complementary therapies in the control of lower urinary tract symptoms in the adult and aged male population. Method: a systematic review developed according to the PRISMA checklist. The search was performed in the CINAHL, Embase, LILACS, PEDro, PubMed, Web of Science and Google Scholar databases. Results: a total of 585 records were identified and 12 clinical trials were selected that met the inclusion criteria. The outcomes considered by the studies for analyzing effectiveness of the complementary therapies were validated questionnaires to assess the severity of the lower urinary tract symptoms (sensation of incomplete bladder emptying, frequent urination, intermittent flow, weak flow, pain or difficulty urinating, nocturia and urgency) and urodynamics parameters. The studies analyzed the complementary phytotherapy (n=8) and electroacupuncture (n=4) therapies. Six studies related to phytotherapy showed statistical significance. Electroacupuncture showed a significant improvement in the symptoms in two studies. Conclusion: pytotherapy was effective to control the simptoms related to frequency, urgency, nocturia, incomplete emptying, intermittence, weak flow and effort to initiate urination. To confirm the effectiveness of electroacupuncture, research studies with well-designed methodologies will also be necessary to resolve the divergences between the studies of this review.