Conservative treatments, such as pelvic floor exercises and bladder training, are often effective in women with urinary incontinence, a review has shown.

Researchers at the University of Minnesota looked at the findings of previous studies in order to assess the comparative effectiveness of common treatments.

In total, they looked at 97 randomised and 44 non-randomised studies, all of which had analysed the effectiveness of non-pharmacological, conservative treatments for female incontinence.

The researchers found that conservative treatments were more effective than no treatment at all, both for easing urinary incontinence and improving patients' quality of life.

Pelvic floor muscle training was found to be the most effective method for treating incontinence and improving quality of life.

Bladder training may also provide some benefit, although the treatment does not seem to be as effective as pelvic floor muscle training.

According to the researchers' analysis, one in three women who undertake pelvic floor muscle training achieves continence.

This compares with one in six women who do both pelvic floor muscle training and bladder training, and one in six who undergo electrical stimulation.

For urge incontinence in particular, one in four women benefit from improvements in their incontinence after undergoing percutaneous tibial nerve stimulation, during which a needle electrode is inserted into the leg to deliver an adjustable electrical pulse to the sacral nerve plexus.

The researchers also observed that obese women with urinary incontinence tended to be less reliant on incontinence pads, such as Tena Comfort Plus, if they lost weight.

Presenting their findings at the annual meeting of the International Continence Society, the study authors concluded that pelvic floor muscle training alone or in combination with bladder training, as well as electrical stimulation, "should be first-line treatment choices for women with urinary incontinence".

They added: "Conservative treatments have an important role in the treatment of female urinary incontinence and should be incorporated into ambulatory care practice settings."