Considering acupuncture for overactive bladder? Evidence still uncertain

Care providers and patients may wish to consider the use of acupuncture to treat overactive bladder symptoms where other treatment modalities are unsuccessful, carry a significant risk of side effects or are considered undesirable by the patient.

One trial compared acupuncture with no treatment and suggested that acupuncture may improve symptoms of overactive bladder (very-low-certainty evidence). However, an additional 5 studies compared acupuncture with sham acupuncture and suggested that acupuncture results in little to no difference in cure or improvement in overactive bladder symptoms (very-low-certainty evidence).

An additional 11 studies compared acupuncture with medications for symptoms of overactive bladder, and these suggested acupuncture may result in a slight increase in cure or improvement in overactive bladder symptoms (low-certainty evidence).

There were no reports of major adverse events in any of the included studies. Compared with sham acupuncture, there was a slight increase in minor adverse events with acupuncture, but compared with medications, significantly fewer minor adverse events were recorded.