Barriers to Adherence to Overactive Bladder Treatment for Hispanic Women

Adherence to overactive bladder (OAB) therapy is low among the general population. Prior studies suggest that OAB is more prevalent among Hispanic women compared with other ethnicities.

The aims of this study were to analyze nonadherence to OAB therapy among Hispanic compared with non-Hispanic women and identify potential barriers to treatment to reduce disparities in care.

All patients who received treatment for OAB between 2018 and 2022 were included in this retrospective study. Race and ethnicity were self-reported. Nonadherence was defined as failure to initiate therapy within 1 year. Non-Hispanic women were selected at random to form a control group. The study was powered to detect a 50% difference in treatment nonadherence. Comparisons were made using the Fisher exact test or χ 2 test as appropriate for nominal variables, and the Mann-Whitney test for continuous variables.

The analysis included 126 Hispanic and 126 non-Hispanic women. Both cohorts were similar in demographics. Nonadherence to OAB therapy was more frequent among Hispanic women (44.0 vs 20.9%, P  < 0.0001). After adjusting for age, body mass index, primary language, parity, insurance type, and treatment offered, Hispanic women were at a 2.54-fold increased risk of nonadherence ( P  = 0.007). A subanalysis of only Hispanic women found that younger age ( P  = 0.033), higher parity ( P  = 0.035) underinsured status ( P  = 0.027), and fewer office visits ( P  = 0.0002) were associated with nonadherence.

Nonadherence to OAB therapy was greater among Hispanic women despite no difference in treatment patterns. Younger age, greater parity, lack of insurance, and fewer office visits may be barriers for Hispanic women.