Overactive bladder treatment increases urgency warning time

Overactive bladder patients treated with solifenacin succinate (VESIcare) experience significant increases in warning time before having to urinate, according to a study published in the online edition of Urology.

These patients also experienced significant reductions in other secondary endpoints, including episodes of urgency, incontinence, and micturitions, compared with patients receiving placebo. No significant difference was observed for nocturia-related endpoints between the two groups.

The 12-week study involving 739 patients with overactive bladder demonstrated that patients taking solifenacin experienced a significantly longer warning time compared with those taking placebo (a 31.5-second increase vs. a 12-second increase, respectively; p=.008). Warning time was defined as the time from the first sensation of urgency to going to the bathroom.

“Patients often miss making it to the bathroom by a few seconds, so increasing the length of time between the first feeling of urgency and actually using the bathroom may help reduce the number of incontinence episodes,” said lead investigator Mickey M. Karram, MD, of Advanced Urogynecology & Pelvic Surgery, Cincinnati. “Urgency is a primary and problematic issue for people with OAB, so it’s significant that this study showed VESIcare can greatly improve urgency symptoms.”

For the primary endpoint, the study showed a significant improvement from baseline in the reduction of urgency episodes per 24 hours. The 357 patients treated with solifenacin experienced 65% fewer urgency episodes compared with 42% fewer episodes for in 350 patients receiving placebo (p
Incontinence episodes per 24 hours decreased by 75% for patients treated with solifenacin versus 53% for patients receiving placebo (pp=.0004).

Support for the study was provided by Astellas Pharma US, Inc. and GlaxoSmithKline.