Abdominal Body Contouring Can Improve The Stress Urinary Incontinence: A Single-Arm Meta-analysis.

[BACKGROUND] Stress urinary incontinence (SUI), acknowledged as the "social cancer," is one of the common manifestations of pelvic floor dysfunction in postpartum women with a high incidence of 18.9%. Abdominal body contouring including abdominoplasty, panniculectomy, and monsplasty has long been one of the most popular plastic surgeries restoring the body contour after pregnancy or massive weight loss. Whether abdominal body contouring can improve the SUI is controversial. This study analyzed the relevant studies to assess the effect of abdominal body contouring on SUI.

[METHODS] A systematic search for all relevant articles up to April of 2025 was conducted in databases (PubMed, Web of science, Embase). A single-arm meta-analysis was performed and reported according to the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) statement.

[RESULTS] A total of 374 articles were retrieved. After screening, the meta-analysis included 5 articles, including 196 patients who underwent abdominal body contouring. The improvement rate of SUI in patients who underwent abdominal body contouring was 54.45%. There was no publication bias in this single-arm meta-analysis.

[CONCLUSIONS] Abdominal body contouring can effectively improve the SUI, and the improvement rate is 54.45%. However, this study also has limitations, further comparative cohort studies are required to achieve solid conclusion.

[LEVEL OF EVIDENCE II] This journal requires that authors assign a level of evidence to each article. For a full description of these Evidence-Based Medicine ratings, please refer to the Table of Contents or the online Instructions to Authors   www.springer.com/00266 .