Persistence and concomitant medication in patients with overactive bladder treated with antimuscarinic agents in...

To assess therapeutic persistence and its relationship with concomitant medication in patients treated with fesoterodine versus tolterodine and solifenacin for overactive bladder (OAB) in standard clinical practice conditions.

An observational, multicentre retrospective study was performed based on medical registries of patients followed-up in primary care (PC). Three study groups were analysed. Persistence was defined as the time (in months) without withdrawing from the initial therapy or without changing to another medication for at least 30 days after the initial prescription. The concomitant medications were antidepressants, anxiolytic/hypnotic agents, antibiotics, antiseptic agents, laxatives and skin products. We employed the SPSSWIN program version 17 (statistical significance, P<.05).

We selected 3094 patients for the study. The median age was 54.0 years and 62.2% were women. The patients treated with fesoterodine shown greater treatment persistence (12 months) when compared with those who took solifenacin and tolterodine (40.2% vs. 34.7% and 33.6%, respectively; P=.008). They also showed a lower use of concomitant medication (1.1 vs. 1.2 and 1.2 drugs, respectively; percentages: 61.6% vs. 67.1% and 70.1%, respectively; P<.03).

The patients undergoing OAB treatment with fesoterodine, when compared with those taking solifenacin and tolterodine, were associated with greater treatment persistence and a reduced use of concomitant medication.