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The drug Detrol® LA is effective in women with mixed incontinence, the most common type of urinary incontinence, according to a study reported in the August issue of Urology.
Mixed incontinence involves overactive bladder and stress incontinence symptoms. The former includes strong and sudden urges to urinate, frequent urges to urinate and wetting accidents accompanied by a sudden and unstoppable urge to urinate. The latter involves the leakage of urine in response to activities that increase abdominal pressure, such as coughing, laughing, sneezing or lifting a heavy object.
Detrol LA (tolterodine tartrate extended release capsules) is currently indicated for the treatment of overactive bladder with symptoms of urgency, urge incontinence and frequency. The drug is not yet indicated for stress or mixed incontinence.
The study found that women with mixed incontinence reported a greater treatment benefit for overactive bladder symptoms from Detrol LA than a placebo.
"For patients with mixed incontinence, urge incontinence is often more bothersome than stress incontinence because it is associated with a greater loss of urine and is more unpredictable," said lead author Dr. Vik Khullar, of St Mary's Hospital and Imperial College in London.
The study involved 854 women suffering from mixed incontinence who were treated with Detrol LA or a placebo once a day for eight weeks. Those treated with Detrol LA had a 77% reduction in weekly urge incontinence episodes, compared to 51% for those receiving a placebo. Patients treated with Detrol LA also reported an overall reduction - 37% versus 19% for a placebo - in the number of urgency episodes in a 24-hour period.
After eight weeks, patients treated with Detrol LA were two times more likely to report an improved bladder condition than patients receiving placebo. A significantly higher proportion of Detrol LA patients reported that treatment had been beneficial (76% versus 55% for placebo).
Source:
Medical Week staff,
week of August 21,2004
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