Trial reportHealth technology assessment (Winchester, England)2021
Tibial nerve stimulation compared with sham to reduce incontinence in care home residents: ELECTRIC RCT.
Trial report in Health technology assessment (Winchester, England), 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT03248362 (ELECtric Tibial Nerve Stimulation to Reduce Incontinence in Care Homes), which is not on this map. Cited by 11 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
ELECtric Tibial Nerve Stimulation to Reduce Incontinence in Care Homes: ELECTRIC
Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 19 citations in OpenAlex.
- The importance of electrical parameters on transcutaneous tibial nerve stimulation for overactive bladder syndrome: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Age and ageing · 2025Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Paired associative stimulation with a high-intensity cortical component and a high-frequency peripheral component in treatment of neuropathic pain after incomplete spinal cord injury - a pilot trial.Spinal cord series and cases · 2026Trial
- COMPARING THE EFFECTS OF BIOFEEDBACK AND TRANSCUTANEOUS TIBIAL NERVE STIMULATION, ALONE OR IN COMBINATION, IN WOMEN WITH COEXISTING COMPLAINTS OF DYSSYNERGIC DEFECATION AND STRESS URINARY INCONTINENCE: A RANDOMIZED CONTROLLED TRIAL.Arquivos de gastroenterologia · 2026Trial
- Cost consequence analysis of transcutaneous tibial nerve stimulation (TTNS) for urinary incontinence in care home residents alongside a randomised controlled trial.BMC geriatrics · 2023Trial
- Posterior tibial neurostimulation for faecal incontinence in community-dwelling older adults: long-term outcomes and predictors of response.Techniques in coloproctology · 2026Article
- Effectiveness of Electric Muscle Stimulation (EMS) and Transcutaneous Electric Nerve Stimulation (TENS) in patients with overactive bladder: A randomized controlled trial.Pakistan journal of medical sciences · 2025Article
- Evaluation and management of urinary incontinence in nursing home residents: unique considerations for an at-risk population.Gynecology and pelvic medicine · 2024Review
- Urinary and Double Incontinence in Cognitively Impaired Patients: Impacts on Those Affected and Their Professional Caregivers.Journal of clinical medicine · 2023Article
- Data resource profile: the virtual international care homes trials archive (VICHTA).International journal of population data science · 2023Review
- Physical Agent-Based Treatments for Overactive Bladder: A Review.Journal of clinical medicine · 2022Review
Corrections and comments
- Commented on byGeriatrics.2022
Authors and funding
20 authors at 8 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundUrinary incontinence is prevalent in nursing and residential care homes, and has a profound impact on residents' dignity and quality of life. Treatment options are limited in these care contexts and care homes predominantly use absorbent pads to contain incontinence, rather than actively treat it. Transcutaneous posterior tibial nerve stimulation is a non-invasive, safe, low-cost intervention that is effective in reducing urinary incontinence in adults.
objectiveTo determine the clinical effectiveness of transcutaneous posterior tibial nerve stimulation to treat urinary incontinence in care home residents and to determine the associated costs of the treatment.
designA multicentre, pragmatic, participant and outcome assessor-blind, randomised placebo-controlled trial.
settingA total of 37 UK residential and nursing care homes.
participantsCare home residents with at least weekly urinary incontinence that is contained using absorbent pads and who are able to use a toilet/toilet aid with or without assistance.
interventionsResidents were randomised (1 : 1) to receive 12 30-minute sessions of transcutaneous posterior tibial nerve stimulation or sham stimulation over a 6-week period.
main outcome measuresPrimary outcome - change in volume of urine leaked over a 24-hour period at 6 weeks. Secondary outcomes - number of pads used, Perception of Bladder Condition, toileting skills, quality of life and resource use.
resultsA total of 408 residents were randomised (transcutaneous posterior tibial nerve stimulation,
conclusionsThe ELECTRIC (ELECtric Tibial nerve stimulation to Reduce Incontinence in Care homes) trial showed, in the care home context (with a high proportion of residents with poor cognitive capacity and limited independent mobility), that transcutaneous posterior tibial nerve stimulation was not effective in reducing urinary incontinence. No economic case for transcutaneous posterior tibial nerve stimulation was made by the cost-consequences analysis; however, the positive reception of learning about urinary incontinence for care home staff supports a case for routine education in this care context. LIMITATIONS: Completing 24-hour pad collections was challenging for care home staff, resulting in some missing primary outcome data. FUTURE WORK: Research should investigate transcutaneous posterior tibial nerve stimulation in residents with urgency urinary incontinence to determine whether or not targeted stimulation is effective. Research should evaluate the effects of continence training for staff on continence care in care homes.
trial registrationCurrent Controlled Trials ISRCTN98415244 and ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03248362.
fundingThis project was funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Technology Assessment programme and will be published in full in
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.