Urinary incontinence in men: current and developing therapy options

Urinary incontinence in men is a significant and often underappreciated problem. Men can have urgency and or stress incontinence. Urgency incontinence as part of the overactive bladder (OAB) syndrome and can often coexist with benign prostatic obstruction (BPO) in men and the initial treatment of this is conservative lifestyle changes and then medical therapy.

This literature review aims to cover synthetic drugs currently utilised to treat urinary incontinence in men that are phase III and onwards. Neurological incontinence and surgical treatment options for male urinary incontinence are beyond the scope of this review.

The most common form of urinary incontinence in men is urgency incontinence secondary to an OAB, which often co-exists in men, with bladder outflow obstruction (BOO). The pharmacotherapy options to treat OAB include antimuscarinics, β3 agonists and phosphodiesterase inhibitors. Antimuscarinics and β3 agonists are effective in treating OAB, and have been found to have no increased urinary retention risk in the group of patients with co-existing BPO. Emerging medications include the alternative β3 agonists - solabegron and ritobegron. The future may include novel combinations of these therapies.